Village Trustees Approve 1.75 Percent Tax Increase

Although Garden City's 2011-2012 village budget is .57 percent less than that of 2010-2011, residents will see a 1.75 percent increase in their village taxes.

Trustees voted 7-1 in favor of the proposed $53,333,729 spending plan; deputy mayor John Watras was the only nay vote.

"I don't want to diminish the work you did," Watras said. "I believe it was very good but I thought it would be very symbolic if it was a zero increase. That's what we really tried to get last year and this year. I couldn't vote for it last year and I couldn't vote for it this year."

The spending plan requires a tax rate of $42.12 to balance the budget, which results in a $98 tax increase for the average assessed single family home.

Brudie said the board was faced with "many difficult choices" in the beginning of the budget process "as to how to best balance the service expectations of residents with the difficulty presented by the current economy."

"Preparation of the budget is a major responsibility requiring long hours of staff's time and full time attention of the department heads and village administrator during several months of the year," he said.

Last fiscal year, the village experienced a $2,225,480 decline in assessed value. This year the village experienced an additional net decrease of $1,310,759.

"These decreases are attributable to reductions in assessments for special franchises, increases in tax exempt buildings and tax certiorari actions on several properties," Brudie said. "The vast majority of these cases involve commercial properties and are very sensitive to economic conditions."

Village administrator Rob Schoelle imposed a village-wide job freeze two years ago, which, Brudie said, combined with attrition of employees through retirements, produced savings. "This freeze will continue to be in effect for 2011-2012," Brudie said.

With the exception of Schoelle, six department heads and four managerial and confidential employees, Brudie said, all other full-time village employees are represented by three unions.

The Police Benevolent Association (PBA) contract is currently in binding arbitration; the Professional Firefighters Association and the CSEA supervisory unit contracts are also being negotiated.

Newcomer John DeMaro prefaced his vote by saying new trustees are always put in a difficult position because they have to vote on the budget their first day in office.

"... I recognize the budget is a give and take. I'm concerned about several things but believe we're going in the right direction," he said. "Several recommendations of the [Citizens Budget Review and Advisory Committee] were policy-related and I understand that some of those are being discussed and perhaps implemented and I think that's a good thing."

During this year's budget sessions, officials said they were faced with "unusual and difficult circumstances." The board was aware early on that the lagging economy caused a "significant revenue shortfall" during 2010-2011, specifically in fines and fees and state aid from mortgage taxes - $671,257 below the estimated amount. Officials said "other revenue performance made up some of the shortage," bringing the total revenue shortfall down to $425,717.

Village auditor James Olivo noted that expenses are estimated to produce a $1,488,059 addition to surplus and, for the third year, trustees are holding 1 percent of the budget in reserve - rather than the "long standing policy" of 2 percent. As a result, $1,913,235 was available from surplus, which helped offset the "needed" tax increase.

Department heads were again required to produce a 2 percent surplus, which officials said also assisted in reducing the tax rate. Olivo noted that the village will return to the "pay-as-we-go" approach to resurfacing roads, curbs and sidewalks as well as funding a synthetic turf infield at one of the ball fields at the heavily used Community Park.

Further, residents will not see a rate increase in the village water fund as a result of two environmental lawsuit settlements. "Extensive work," however, will be required to update the village's swimming pool and will likely be paid for through a future bond issue.