Oak Forest officials said the state is to blame for a nearly $300,000 budget deficit the city is facing in the coming year.
At its last meeting of the current fiscal year Tuesday, the City Council unanimously approved a budget for the coming year in which anticipated revenue would fall $294,000 short of planned expenses.
Finance Director Colleen Julian said that shortfall is a direct result of a 10 percent reduction in the city’s share of state income tax revenue.
That 10 percent equates to $295,000 less than the city received last year, Julian said, and state officials didn’t inform Oak Forest of the reduction until March.
She said emergency funds the city has developed in recent years will have to be tapped to cover the city’s expenses in the upcoming fiscal year.
“That’s why we have reserves,” Julian said, adding if state government continues to make such cuts in future years, the city would have to contemplate some sort of tax increase to maintain its level of municipal services.
The late notice from the state meant officials couldn’t consider any increase in local property taxes to cover the shortfall in the budget just passed, Julian said.
She noted the move caused harm to local governments across Illinois.
“If they’re taking our funds, they’re indirectly raising the (state) income tax,” she said. “It’s going to force us to raise our property taxes if it happens again.”
The budget also includes a rate increase for Oak Forest water and sewage collection services.
The city is raising its rates for fresh water by 2.8 percent to cover the costs of increases being passed along by Oak Lawn and Chicago, which supply Oak Forest with water from Lake Michigan, Julian said.
Wastewater collection fees will increase by 3 cents to $1.91 per 1,000 gallons of metered water. Julian said most Oak Forest residents generate about 20,000 gallons per year.
“We’re trying to keep these increases minimal, because we realize they are a burden to our homeowners,” she said.
On the whole, the city’s reserve funds will ensure the deficit is plugged and that municipal services will not be significantly impacted during 2018, officials said.
The budget calls for a fund balance of $5.6 million to be in place when the fiscal year ends April 30, 2019.
The budget also calls for a $4.2 million capital expenditure plan that will provide $1.1 million for a sewer main upgrade, $850,000 for road repair program, $300,000 for a streetscape project and $171,000 for completing improvements to the 159th Street culvert.
The budget also calls for expanding the city payroll by one. There will be 124 full-time city employees — with the new person being Katie Ashbaugh, who on Tuesday was officially hired to be the Oak Forest city planner.
Ashbaugh had worked for Minnesota-based Manhard Consulting, which since 2016 had provided her services to Oak Forest for planning duties.
The firm’s contract expires May 1, and Ashbaugh will become a full-time city employee performing planning duties to prepare Oak Forest for future development.
She will be paid a salary of about $58,000 annually.
In other business, Adam Tudor was sworn in as a probationary officer with the Oak Forest Police Department.
Tudor, who previously was an intern with the Chicago Police Department, will attend the Police Academy beginning in May and will begin his duties this summer.
Police Chief Tim Kristin said the hire brings the Oak Forest department up to a full compliment of 42 sworn officers, though two officers are scheduled to retire later this year.
“I’ll be coming back up here to announce new hires this summer,” he told the aldermen.
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