Oak Lawn Village Board Resumes Budget Talks Tonight

Expect big reveals tonight when Oak Lawn Village Board members gather this evening for the first of two planning sessions to discuss the 2014 budget.

Oak Lawn’s village manager has already warned board members and department heads to be prepared to make some tough decisions as they attempt to balance an $8.7 million budget deficit. State law requires Illinois municipalities to pass balanced operating budgets by the end of the year.

The village board has a huge budget packet to plow through this evening. The village hasn’t raised property taxes in six years, but the mayor and trustees may have to bite the bullet in 2014.

As Oak Lawn’s finance director ruefully put it: putting a dent in the village’s deficit will be resolved through layoffs, reducing firefighters’ overtime and putting off street repairs.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Oak Lawn Village Hall, 9446 S. Raymond Ave., and is open to the public.

What to expect:

• Nothing is off the table, including staff reductions, property tax hikes and possibly outsourcing of village services, such as the 911 call center. Expect to hear more detailed proposals floated before the village’s governing body.

• Oak Lawn trustees will decided how much to pay into the state-regulated police, fire and municipal employee pension funds. Oak Lawn currently needs to make up $128 million in unfunded pension liabilities in order to make future payments to retirees. The recommended payment for 2014 is $5.034 million. The village board can vote to “kick the can down the road” another year or risk losing state revenue in 2016 if the village doesn't show a good faith effort to fund pensions at 90 percent by 2040. 

• Another possible solution for funding pension liabilities is to take out a pension bond and add to the village’s already hefty bond debt of $100 million. The Orland Fire District took out a $27 million bond specifically to cover retirees’ pensions. Long term thinking is to invest the cash and generate interest from the investments, an approach that various good government advocates and finance experts have called risky to taxpayers.

• Expect the annual laying of the blame on spiraling overtime costs for Oak Lawn firefighters, with a projected budget overrun of $1.75 million, according to village officials. The fire department has lost 25 staff through attrition and has been working without a union contract the past three years. Union representatives say hiring more firefighters would resolve skyrocketing overtime costs. The City of Chicago announced last week that it would be holding new firefighters exams in mid-2014 in an attempt to get a handle on its own escalating overtime costs.

• Residents could receive a $1 million property tax rebate that would be flipped into increased water and sewer fees at an estimated cost of $64 per household. The measure could squeeze additional fees from the village’s largest employer, Advocate Christ Medical Center. As a non-profit the medical center does not pay taxes, but it does pay for water and sewers.

• Village taxpayers could be paying additional municipal taxes on their utility bills. Monies raised would go toward funding retired police, fire and municipal employees’ health insurance who are not yet eligible for Medicare.

• Some residents may have to do without getting their streets and alleys fixed next year. Infrastructural repairs budgeted at $7 million could be trimmed or cut altogether.

• Selling off the village’s most valuable asset, its water works assessed at $155 million, additional red light cameras and increased licensing fees for video gaming machines were bandied about in a free-wheeling brainstorm session last month.