The Village of Northbrook, Illinois Administration and Finance Committee met in October.
After calling the meeting to order, roll call was taken. There was no public comment before moving into the FY 2014/2015 year-end review.
The high points of the budget included the surplus, originally estimated at $250,000 and the final audited amount was $2.8 million, and the General Corporate Fund, which ended the FY with $4.4 million above the Village's 40 percent reserve policy. The discussion regarding the surplus was placed on the agenda for the November 17 Administration and Finance meeting.
After reviewing the outstanding debt and the bond issue for November 10, Deputy Village Manager/CFO Jeff Rowitz confirmed that the Village has a Triple-A rating.
Moving on to the first quarter review for FY 2015/2016, Rowitz reported that the anticipated surplus of $227,000 is now projected at $750,000 due to temporary vacancies and the lower pay of the five new police officers.
A report on the Northbrook Economic Data followed, with the vacancy rate of offices dropping, but still at approximately 14 percent. Industry vacancies are down, and shopping center vacancies are still low. Unemployment in Northbrook is lower than metropolitan Chicago and state levels. Discussions regarding the Equalized Assessed Valuations (EAV), single family home sales, major permits and other commercial permits followed.
The committee also discussed the difficulty of local business in finding employees. Employers are having difficulty in filling positions from entry level to highly skilled positions, with civil engineers being in high demand. Commute issues were discussed, including adding shuttles from Metra, the Pace shuttle bug bus program and the retail employers' shift scheduling, which do not correspond with peak commute hours. Following the discussion, the meeting was adjourned.
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