Of Taxes and Trees...
After attending the COW and Board Meeting on Monday, and then the marathon budget session on Saturday, all I know is that the residents roundly rejected the tax increase referendum by 4-1 and that the present Board seems incapable of taking either a hard line or living up their pre-election rhetoric. So far it seems they are bent on patching together some kind of budget made of numbers that may or may not be accurate to reach a goal they can't agree upon. In the end, after about seven hours of palaver, it seems they compromised and decided to half-fund the Rec department to do some kind of plan that most of them think has a slim chance of success, but what the heck, it's just another $107,000.
A more serious issue is the potential threat to our Village's tree stock from the Gypsy Moth and Emerald Ash Borer. It seems spraying for the Gypsy Moth will cost $150,000 next year or the year after, and then perhaps $50,000 a year thereafter for an unknown number of years. Whether this will be effective in a Village surrounded by Forest Preserve's that if left unsprayed, and I think I heard that spraying there is prohibited, remains to be seen. Anyway, since we are dealing with something that absolutely must be tried and there are no funds set aside for it, I suggest that every homeowner be assessed $50 to cover the cost, perhaps $100 for the larger estate lots, and that the entire Village and perhaps a generous over-spray area along the river be hit. If we have 3000 parcels that should bring in roughly enough to accomplish this, and who wouldn't/shouldn't/couldn't spend $50 to save their trees form defoliation.
The EAB is a tougher nut to crack. We have roughly 1000 Ash trees on public land and an unknown number on private property. Removal of an infested tree is pegged at $700 average, and replanting a young tree at $300., so the public tree toll figures to be about $1 million, and probably should be accomplished over five years at 200 trees per year. An ordinance needs to be developed to mandate the removal of infested trees on private property, at owner's expense, we were told. Instead, I propose the following. To accompany next April's election, when three Trusteeships and the Village President are up, we could have a referendum for a tax increase for specific projects that we all can agree on - say $1.5 million for a tree care and reforestation fund, $500,000 for a sidewalk replacement fund, etc. Say a total of $2.5 to $5 mil for these special Capital Improvement Projects that we all agree must be carried out, with specific amounts going into separate Enterprise Funds, so that not a penny can be spent on the general operations budget. This should not be allowed to grow and should cost well under $1 a day over five years. That will allow the million dollars that was put into the Capital Improvements fund to be drawn on in emergencies, while a new Board wrestles out the numbers for the 2010 and succeeding budgets. This plan would bring in funds right about the time they will be needed for the trees and will not burden the taxpayers now, when things are unsettled. Since this Board seems incapable of making the hard choices they said they would, we need to have a new strategy and a new Board that can get the job done. Maybe this is one solution that will work. Let's consider it carefully.