Trimming Village Budget a Tough Task

Libertyville officials are trying hard to find ways to save taxpayers money in these sluggish economic times. But such a task often is easier said than done, which became quite apparent earlier this week.

At the board's June 14 Committee of the Whole meeting, talks about which services in the town budget should be considered “core” services and which ones should be “elective,” quickly changed focus.

“The purpose of this discussion is to determine what (budget items) we need or don't need,” Mayor Terry Weppler told village staff and the audience at the start of the meeting. “I anticipate this will take us more than one evening to go through.”

However, about an hour into the meeting, Weppler made it clear he felt there were more efficient ways to take a closer look at the village's budget-related items.

At the start of the meeting, committee and staff members discussed and separated specific budget items into one of two categories (core or elective services), line by line. When the discussion began, a “core” item was deemed something that is necessary for the village to have, while “elective” items were not.

Weppler and Village Administrator Kevin Bowens pointed out that some items put in the “elective” category might be considered very important to Libertyville residents.

“The fact a service is elective doesn't necessarily mean it's not worthwhile,” Bowens said.

For example, mosquito-spraying is considered an “elective” service but would not be likely to be removed from the budget for obvious reasons.

Negotiating A Revenue Drop

“There are ways we can go through this budget more efficiently as opposed to core versus elective,” Weppler added. “There's no law that says we have to provide parking – it’s elective – but we'd be foolish not to. We've all spent a lot of time going through this, and I don't think there's anything that is considered elective that stands out to cut from the budget. The question is, how do we negotiate a truce with reality, with the recession and declining sales tax revenue?”

After more lengthy discussion, Weppler suggested starting the process by having the village's different departments come up with individual lists of services that could be further analyzed, and then discuss those specific items in greater detail at a future meeting.

“This is new territory for us, as we face many challenging situations,” Trustee Richard Moras said.

“This has been a good exercise for staff, regardless,” Bowens added.

Saving Money, Efficiency Is Key

Among the budget-related things commissioners and village staff members were asked to focus on are:

• How to bring more business to Libertyville.
• The best ways to have cost efficiency in every department throughout the village.
• Concentrating on what services and budget-related items can be singled out for further scrutiny or potentially cut.
• Maintaining an expected level of quality service, despite what cuts are or aren't made in the future.

“It would just be too time-consuming and inefficient to go through the budget like this, line by line, especially when we've already spent so much time discussing these things already,” Weppler said.

Weppler says if anyone has ideas they feel are helpful, he is willing to listen.

“If anyone out there thinks they might have suggestions about how to help, or how to make this process more efficient, let us know, we'd love to hear them.”