Village Anticipates Balanced Budget

Trustees and village staff members anticipate that Libertyville will have a balanced budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, officials said.

The announcement came during a March 12 Commitee of the Whole meeting/workshop, in which village officials spent most of the day discussing specific aspects of the town's proposed 2011-12 village budget.

An official budget must be approved and voted upon by village board members in April.

According to a preliminary packet provided by village staff members, Libertyville anticipates it will have revenues of about $44.3 million, while the town's expenditures are listed at around $42.3 million, for an estimated surplus of approximately $2 million.

However, these are just preliminary numbers, and trustees will spend more time in the coming weeks going over additional details, which could change the final totals.

Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler said during the meeting he would like to see certain specific line items in the budget be listed as "revenue-neutral," such as money collected from the village's red light photo enforcement cameras, which would slightly alter the town's overall amount of revenue in any kind of formal finalized budget proposal.

"I'd prefer that [red light camera collections] not be listed as revenue in the upcoming budget," Weppler told board and staff members. "When the idea was implemented, it was the village's goal - and still is - to use this as a way of improving public safety, not as a means of being a revenue source."  

"I'd prefer they be listed as revenue-neutral," Weppler said during the meeting.

Preliminary numbers for the village's anticipated expenditures, by percentage, are listed below. Again, it should be noted that these are preliminary numbers for the fiscal year 2011-12 only, which were listed in an informational packet provided by the village, and are subject to change.

Libertyville's Anticipated Expenditures ($42,252,310) for 2011-12 Fiscal Year Budget:

• Salaries, $14,445,660 (33%)
• Contractual, $7,003,600 (17%)
• Benefits, $6,240,010 (15%)
• Commodities, $5,106,810 (12%)
• Capital, $3,088,585 (7%)
• Debt, $2,480,170 (6%)
• Utilities, $1,633,755 (4%)
• Repairs and Maintenance, $1,559,800 (4%)
• Transfers, $693,920, (2%)

Libertyville Patch will post a follow-up story listing the town's projected revenue (estimated by village officials at $44,297,240), by source, for the proposed fiscal 2011-12 budget, later this week.