Gilberts officials balance the budget

Listen carefully; this is the month when elected leaders in many communities throughout Illinois will sit down and take whatever sharp objects they have to close to trim the fat from next year's budgets.

For months, they have known they cannot count on Illinois lawmakers for additional or timely funds, so they will take it upon themselves get as close to balanced spending plans as they can.

Gilberts trustees will meet to do just that. After trimming employees and empty positions, they will decide if $2.4 millions will cover all their expected expenses.

Remember, this is a village that two years ago was in the position of receiving more money from state income and motor fuel taxes because its population was growing. Trustees conducted a special census, and they learned they were entitled to $210,000 more a year.

Then, trustees were overjoyed because the added revenue would have allowed them to add public works employees and police officers to protect and serve the additional residents. It also would have allowed them to recover the costs of paving new roads and extending utilities to the new subdivisions where the residents live. But, that was all before the bottom fell out of the national economy and money became tight. Sales tax revenue dropped off and the state began delaying income tax allotments to communities,

"(The delayed income tax) is tough because now we're getting into cash flow issue," said Gilberts Mayor Rick Zirk. "It helps pay for the day-to-cost of running the village."

Oh, the residents are still in Gilberts - 6,364 of them at last count, and officials couldn't be happier, said Ray Keller, Gilberts village administrator. But running the village with less money and more people is a challenge.

"We used to receive monthly disbursements, but we just received our October (2009) payment," Keller said. "The state treasurer was waiting to release the funds until he had enough to give all the municipalities their share. We certainly aren't alone in this situation."

But Gilberts may be among the few Illinois towns that have added personnel only to take some away in the economic mess. To meet Zirk's goal of having a balanced budget without spending surplus funds as in the past year, Gilberts' trustees have laid off three village employees, agreed not to fill two empty police officer jobs, and eliminated over time for their employees.

"No one's happy with (the budget), but it's the best we can do considering the financial circumstances," Zirk said. "But we still have a balanced budget."

The reserve funds, which amount to one month of the village's expenses, are earmarked to pay for emergencies, Keller said.

"We were lucky; we had a mild winter. If we knew a snowstorm was coming, some public works employees (who drive snowplows) were told to take a day off so they wouldn't go over 40 hours," the village administrator said. "The police department also went to 12-hour shifts which saves us money."

Other measures were taken, such as holding off and minor improvements and holding onto to vehicles longer than expected. In the end, trustees shaved $800,000 from the previous year's expenses.

"We made sure the cuts we made did not compromise public services," said Keller.