City Finances are "Top Priority," Gresk Says

Mayor Michael Gresk delivered his State of the City address Thursday afternoon in the West Ballroom of the Arrowhead Golf Club, touching on topics ranging from city finances, to the Hubble property’s redevelopment, to coyotes.

The economic state of the city, Gresk said, is the “top priority.”

The Wheaton Chamber of Commerce put on the event as their monthly luncheon. According to the Chamber’s membership relations manager Kerry O’Brien, Gresk spoke in front of a crowd of 100 luncheon-diners.

“Like many of you and your businesses,” Gresk said, “our priorities are focused on what actions we need to take to keep our finances in order during this unstable economic time.”

On the positive side, Gresk said, the city’s S&P bond rating went from AA to AAA and the fiscal year 2011 tax levy was slightly lower than the 2010 levy. Negatively, revenues from sales tax, real estate tax, utility tax, and other taxes are down, the state is five months behind on funding owed to Wheaton, personnel costs and pension demands are up as are costs for materials needed for infrastructure repair.

The mayor also touched on the state of the Hubble property, where the school district, the park district, and the city are working together to develop the old junior high into a viable space. Consultants, Gresk said, have performed a market analysis regarding the site.

“[They] determined some sort of mixed-use development would be the most viable option,” the mayor said.

He noted that due to the current economy, such a development would not occur “for some time.” An alternative to the mixed-use idea is the development of the Hubble property into a recreational space.

The mayor also discussed the non-binding referendum on the upcoming April ballot that would “gauge public input” for the use of city money to renovate and operate the recently repossessed Wheaton Grand Theater, infrastructure issues such as flood-damage repair and the city-wide road resurfacing plan, and environmental issues such as the fight against the emerald ash borer and the influx of coyotes in Wheaton and how to discourage them from your property.

Editor's note: Patch will post a video of this event by Monday, Jan. 24.