Village Trustee Hopefuls Address Pension, Development Issues

Village board candidates responded to residents' questions on affordable housing, development and pension issues amongst other topics during Sunday's forum hosted by the League of Women Voters.

All six trustee hopefuls were in attendence, including current board member Mike Basil, library board official Douglas Rathe, Bob Bielinski, Julie Wolf, Dan Kaplan and Michael Bailey. Every candidate touted how his or her background could serve the financial needs and development of Wilmette.

While several topics were discussed, including how to best share service delivery with neighboring municipalities, as well as how to make the village a healthier place, below is a breakdown of forum highlights.

Economic Development, Cutting Costs

One of the key questions candidates were asked was regarding the direct role village officials should take in new downtown development. The group agreed that developing the village's center was essentially for economic growth.

In light of the approval of , Basil, Bielinski, Wolf and Bailey said the next step was to modernize zoning ordinances. Meanwhile Kaplan called for a financial analysis to help effectively implement the downtown development guide. "We need to assess and we need to quantify the assesments that are mentioned generally in the Master Plan." Kaplan said adding that overall, "We are going to be involved much more closely with development than in the past."

All six candidates said they would be opposed to using eminent domain, which has previously been a concern of residents regarding the Master Plan, for growth.

Rathe expressed concerns regarding the Village's recent purchase of the 611 Green Bay Rd. property for .

"Are we going to be able to do anything with it?" Rathe asked, adding that "The village is on the hook for a lot of money." Rathe, like others, said that he'd like to see downtown development generate greater sales tax revenue. In addition to this form of income, Bailey proposed that the village consider lending some of its credit.

And while Wolf suggested investing in new technologies to potentially reduce expenses*, Basil and Bielinski made statements regarding the board's limited control over the village's finances.

"The board doesn’t have complete control over its finances because of the regulatory environment and unfunded mandates from Springfield and Wasnhington." Bielinski said, "I think the board needs to continue to focus on finding ways to reduce costs, and improves services."

When asked about sharing service deliveries, all candidates agreed it was an effective means of cutting costs as long as public safety wasn't compromised. Aside from outsourcing public service duties with neighboring municipalities, such as tree triming with Glenview, some candidates suggested internal means of sharing. Basil proposed sharing snow plowing, specifically sidewalk clearing, with the school districts.

To facilitate these kinds of partnerships, Rathe said "one thing that I think should be revived is the intergovernmental cooperation meeting with all the municipalities."

Affordable Housing

Opinion on how the village should implement its 2004 affordable housing plan varied amongst the candidates.

"I belive a range of housing is good for the community, so that so many who work in our community, that don’t have high inclomes, such as our teachers, can afford to live here." Bailey said, adding that, "I think one option should be explored to collaborate with a non-for-profit corporation to work with to complete such ahousing project."

Wolf said that rental housing would create diversity within the village, and encourage younger professionals to move to the area.

Rathe echoed similar sentiments to the above. "I don’t think that many of our police officers could afford to live here our fire man can afford ot live here," Rathe said. "It would be nice to have people to afford ot live here."

However, Rathe was uncertain as to whether Wilmette was implementing constant plans to fulfill the state mandate.

Meanwhile Basil indicated that the affordable housing plan is "voluntary." Basil cautioned about the role local governments should play in this arena.

"I want to urge each one of you to ask the candidates if they will pledge to protect and enhance, not control or decrease the value of your most important asset," Basil said.

Pensions

Every candidate agreed that there is a disconnect between the benefits set by Springfield that had to be paid by local municipalities. Over the last 10 years, Wilmette has incurred a $30 million shortfall in delivering its pension benefits, according to Kaplan. 

"A lot of people fail to realize that the pension benefits that we pay for with our local property taxes are dictated by the state legislature. . And it is driving up your property taxes in ways you cannot imagine," Basil said.

While Wolf called for a better defined benefits program, she also stated that a new state mandate requires pensions to be 90 percent funded by 2040.*

Meanwhile the road to system reform starts with better communication between officials and residents, according to Bailey.

"I believe part of what got us into this problem is state and local governemtns not being completely honest or transpartent with residents." Bailey said.

Voter registration ends March 8 for residents. Early voting for candidates ends March 31 and regular voting will be held on April 5.  Stay tuned to Patch for more election coverage.

*Wolf was originally misquoted as saying to increase revenue instead of reduce expenses.

*The original version of the article stated that Wilmette intended to have pensions 90 percent funded by 2040.