North Cook News

The village of Wheeling had a special meeting to discuss the annual budget proposal.

"As I do every year, I would like to begin by acknowledging and thanking everyone that worked so hard to get us to this point," said Jon Sfondilis, Village manager. "This is the end of a very long process, not the beginning. So while we are speaking today publicly, today is the result of an awful lot of hard work by an awful lot of people. Certainly the people in this room."

Certainly the people in this room. But in order to get us to the financial position that we are in, which is a very good one, it is a daily effort by all employees to make sure that we understand and follow through on the budget as presented in as expedient a way as possible. So credit goes to all village employees and to department heads and certainly to the village board for their leadership in giving us both appropriate policies and the hard work of sticking by them when we are in challenging times. So thank you. 

Part of the reason that the village board has a public presentation of the budget is to explain the process of the municipal budget to the residents. Years ago, they started a program of pairing an elected official with each department in the city so that every line of the budget is reviewed by an elected official. The village manager started the presentation by saying that the village was in a very good place financially, maybe even the best in years. 

"In order to get us to the financial position that we are in, which is a very good one, it is a daily effort by all employees to make sure that we understand and follow through on the budget as presented in as expedient a way as possible," said Sfondilis. "So credit goes to all village employees and to department heads and certainly to the village board for their leadership in giving us both appropriate policies and the hard work of sticking by them when we are in challenging times. So thank you."

The city’s director of finance, Michael Kaplan, gave his presentation to the board. He explained why the city was in such a good place financially because of increased revenues from sales tax (up 18.7%), income tax (23.1%), ambulance fees (86.7%), and personal property replacement tax (up 94.6%). The overview of the 2023 budget showed revenues of just over $50 million, expenditures of just over $48 million, with almost $22 million of that going to capital improvements in the village. There were a few adjustments to funds approved by the board, but nothing major. 

In the 2022 budget, they went past both their estimated revenues and expenditures but ended up with a surplus of almost $1.5 million. They also discussed the upcoming 2023 property tax levy. Only about 13.6% of the tax goes to the village. The village has recommended a 0% property tax increase for the 2023 levy, out of the maximum 5%. They recommended this because of their high surplus in their revenues.