Village Adopts $58.2M Budget, Keeps an Eye on State Lawmakers

The Bolingbrook village board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a spending plan that will not increase the village’s debt or layoff a single village employee.

However, circumstances out of their hands——could force Bolingbrook officials back to the drawing board.

The village board passed the FY 2012 budget, a 120-page document that calls for the village to spend $58.2 million on essential services.

The budget is balanced, meaning Bolingbrook is spending what it is expected to receive in revenue. It is a 6.7 percent increase from the current budget but a 40 percent decrease from FY 2008 spending.

The village will spend $1.9 million on capital expenditures, which will be used to buy new cars to be used by the police, fire and public works departments.

Overall—encompassing all funds and not just the general corporate fund—the village will spend roughly $101.3 million, compared to the $99.6 million the village will take in through revenue.

The difference there, Village Attorney Jim Boan said, is the capital expenditures planned, which are one-time expenses and will be paid for via a bond issue in 2007.

What remains to be seen, though—and what could be a wild card of sorts—is how the state budget shapes up.

Cities in Illinois have a deal with state government to get a cut of the state’s income tax. In exchange, they don’t, and can’t, collect an income tax of their own.

The state opted to keep all of the income from a recently approved and only base the cities’ cut on the old rates. Cities say they need 10 percent from the total income tax, instead of the 6 percent they’re getting under the new law. 

For Bolingbrook, that means the village could be getting $1.6 million less from the state.

Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar said the state would use the money to balance its own budget.

"For years, we have gotten 10 percent of the tax, which was distributed on a per capita basis and they are considering taking a portion of that away from us," Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar said. "If that happens, we'll have to go back and review the budget and make some cuts."

State lawmakers don’t typically discuss budget figures until late in the session and probably won’t pass a budget until late May or even early June.

Illinois Statehouse News contributed to this report.