Email your questions to the Finance Director, his email is on the Village web site. Get it from the source.
Riverside Info » About Riverside
2010 Budget
(53 posts)-
Posted Thursday Jun 25, 2009 13:18 #
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I will ask Mr. Wachtell, but this seems like really important information for the public to have access to. Is this covered under goverment on demand? It would be especially useful information since the board is asking for public imput via meetings this summer. If the public will be involved in setting priorities, we should be provided with the overall big picture, otherwise, the meetings will be meaningless.
Posted Thursday Jun 25, 2009 14:00 # -
http://www.riverside.il.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={3D3C39DB-4ED2-41E2-8A4B-7D74567CC1F5}
Under the government bullet on the villages webpage there is a link called
"Riverside and the National Financial crisis"Try there.
Posted Thursday Jun 25, 2009 15:01 # -
Common - here it is. See, MAY 18th, after the election. There will be another in July, one every quarter.
http://www.riverside.il.us/vertical/Sites/{FF0B0056-4ACF-4890-985A-29B8374E9BEE}/uploads/{76C5FB4A-D3B6-4546-8075-31CE9E394A3F}.PDF
None of the trustees have crystal balls that give them this info ahead of the finance department. They can only review and act upon it after they have it. They have already acted to close this gap, but have to wait and see how bad it is next quarter, next year, etc.
Posted Thursday Jun 25, 2009 16:34 # -
You didn't need a crystal ball, you just needed be paying attention. The deficit was a critical issue as far back as NOVEMBER. By FEBRUARY, when the CPI was announced, Wachtell was projecting much worse than originally thought in November. In MARCH, Wachtell presented a much more dire situation. All this information was readily available to the RCA.
Posted Friday Jun 26, 2009 16:22 # -
If recollection serves, how I remember the November tax issue, was that if it passed, there were going to be enhancements. I remember Ben saying the village would shine with the extra monies invested in the Landscape, etc. (which I would love!) If it did not pass, we would have to give up non-essentials (like Parks and Rec.)
I think most residents could not afford extras and enhancements at that point, and I think for most the situation has gotten worse, not better.
The village at this point is going to have to deal with the deck it has been dealt. Like all villages around us, heck NR is not having a 4th, Brookfield is laying off people, etc. They had TIF's, hmmmm.
I cannot imagine the majority voting themself an increase for any reason at this point. It is tighten belt time.
ps. Speaking of belt tightening, some gravel is quite lovely. Drive by the Coonley Estate. Very nice. Also, crushed stone is very nice too (and not much more expensive.) Olmsted actually invented a road system of layers of packed gravel for Riverside, it was world renowned. So much preferred to the brick roads which were much too jarring. Too bad the village gave it all up for that fancy new road material... asphalt. Now that's progress!
Posted Friday Jun 26, 2009 17:47 # -
Anyone know when the summer Village financial public input meeting is?
Posted Monday Jul 13, 2009 14:08 # -
Just got back from vacation... what happened at the public input meeting?
Posted Saturday Aug 15, 2009 22:34 # -
Kevin W. summarized year-to-date income and spending via a Powerpoint presentation (available online), which included projected deficits through 2013. Then input from the 15 or people in attendance was solicited. Frankly, it was difficult to offer input on a budget for which we had no starting numbers, or preliminary hints at what might be cut or not cut. Lonnie said no services would be cut next year, nor would rates be increased. So where does that leave us? He did seem to suggest that Rec would not be cut completely (some poignant calls were made for the department to be fully or partially funded in the next budget). And he seemed to admit that a tax increase would be necessary in the future, but only after all efforts had been made to trim the budget.
There was a consensus that having the Village pay $80K/yr for crossing guards was not in our best interest right now. In my opinion, this input meeting was putting the cart before the horse, as the 'audit' has not even started yet.Posted Sunday Aug 16, 2009 13:48 # -
I do not myself remember Lonnie saying no services would be cut in 2010. I think that remains to be seen in the budgeting process to come. I reckon they will get a lot more input at that time.
He said also during the campaign that he was not against tax increases per se, but not as a consequence of expenditures taxpayers obviously objected to.
Here is Rec's plan for reducing its levy. Things have changed quite a bit since that discussion - projected revenues way down owing to recession, especially the downward reassessment of residential values. Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure they will retain a tax subsidy if they fulfill the promises and commitment they made to avoid having their funding cut entirely pursuant to the no vote on the tax increase, because RCA objected to cutting them off entirely:
http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=4241&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&S=61
Posted Tuesday Aug 18, 2009 07:25 #
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