Politics & Government

City to Adopt 2011-2012 Budget Monday, Mar. 21

The City Council held a public hearing Monday to allow the public to comment on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2011-2012.

City officials held a public hearing Monday to allow the public to comment on the proposed Fiscal Year 2011-2012 budget. Revenues are expected to rise about four percent for all city funds, according to the proposed budget. Revenues for the General Fund—85 percent of which comes from taxes—is expected to increase about seven percent.

For all city funds, estimated revenues for FY 2011-2012 are $81,216,127, a 3.9 percent increase from the current budget. Proposed expenditures are $80,741,614, a 0.7 percent increase from the current budget.

The city’s general fund revenues are expected to be $38,197,610, a seven percent increase from the current budget. This includes revenues from taxes, license, permits, charges for services, fines and forfeits, interest income, non-operating revenue, and miscellaneous revenues. Expenditures are expected to be $36,017,942, a 2.1 percent increase from the current budget.

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Councilman John Prendiville thanked the city staff for their work on the budget that made reviewing it a smooth process.

“We’re ahead of other cities and municipalities in this area because our staff did such a good job of not spending money … figuring out exactly where we could cut expenses while still performing most of the services—not all—but most of the services people expect from us,” Prendiville said.

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Councilman Tom Mouhelis said the budgeting process this year has not been fun—nor has it been for the past two years. “Are there some programs I’d like to fund? Yes. But after eliminating 34 positions within the city … I just can’t justify (any) additional expenditures at this time,” he said.  

Councilman Phil Suess said there’s no question that Wheaton is in a better position than other communities in the county. However, he said, “I think we have a fresh memory of what we’ve been through, and I think there has to be a commitment going forward that we don’t get ourselves back in that position.

“We need to be smart about how we spend money—we need to make sure we spend money on the things that have the greatest impact on the community … we need to keep in mind there are challenges ahead and we need to be pretty observant as to how we spend money going forward.”

The City Council will adopt the Fiscal Year 2011-2012 budget at its next meeting Monday, Mar. 21. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here