Politics & Government
Village Releases Proposed 2013 Budget, Meeting Tonight to Discuss
The Committee of the Whole will meet tonight to examine the proposed budget.
The Village of Wilmette has released its proposed 2013 budget and the document is available on the village’s website.
Members of the Village Board will meet tonight, assembled as the Committee of the Whole, to discuss the proposed budget in further detail.
An introductory letter from Village Manager Timothy Frenzer, addressed to “the Village President, Trustees and residents of the Village of Wilmette”, prefaces the budget document, calling 2012 “a year of contrast”. The letter details how increases in non-property tax revenue can be viewed as encouraging but also notes that such income has yet to rebound to pre-recession levels.
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“Since 2008, the Village Board and the staff have faced the challenge of maintaining the level of services that distinguishes Wilmette from other municipalities in the face of greatly diminished resources,” the letter reads. “The Village continuously examines its staffing and operational processes to find greater efficiencies, continuously monitors revenue and expense projections, continues to use conservative revenue projections to develop operating budgets, and continues to ‘manage to the numbers’ so as to ensure that the Village does not need to draw down on reserves, as it did in 2009.”
Though Patch has yet to complete a full evaluation of the 487-page document, the letter claims the 2013 budget:
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- Is balanced and will not draw upon village reserves.
- Maintains all village services.
- Provides for “critical infrastructure improvements”, including $1.4 million for street resurfacing and improvements, $1 million for alley maintenance, $900,000 for sewer lining and rehabilitation and $1.2 million for improving sewers to better deal with storms.
- Will not increase residential water and sewer rates.
- Will increase the property tax levy by 3.48 percent, the smallest percentage increase since 1997 (the letter estimated this would equate to $51 more for the average total property tax bill).
The Committee of the Whole will meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of Village Hall, 1200 Wilmette Ave.
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