City Budget: Six immediate actions the incoming Council must take

Submitted by chris_hart on Fri, 02/13/2009 - 17:56

The current City Council has approved a budget that projects a small General Fund surplus without a property tax increase.

But getting there required actions that will dominate the agenda of the Council to be elected on April 7th:

«     We will need to overcome more than $1.5 million in one-time accounting maneuvers used to balance this year’s budget – for example, a transfer of $300,000 from the Economic Development Fund in a time when we must consider incentives to stimulate growth.

«     We will need to carefully and frequently monitor a number of tentative sources of funds used to balance this year’s budget – for example, directing $100,000 from Township funds to support the Mental Health Board.

«     We will need to address the outcomes of labor group negotiations that have only just begun.

In the end, the hardest and most urgent budgetary choices will land squarely in the lap of your next Alderman. For the incoming City Council, the first order of business must be to develop contingency plans and prepare for the even more difficult year ahead. I believe there are six actions an incoming Alderman must take as soon as they’re sworn in. Those actions are:

1.     Control…expected increases in administrative fees for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF).

2.     Review…our budget assumptions and performance quarterly as recommended by City staff.

3.     Protect…our ability to furlough city staff during labor group negotiations.

4.     Engage…non-profit organizations in respectful conversation toward service partnerships, contributing intellectual capital, and making voluntary contributions in lieu of paying taxes.

5.     Stabilize…funding to meet our annual pension fund obligations.

6.     Attract…businesses to our community by working with economic development groups, EVMark, and the Evanston Chamber of Commerce.

The hard choices ahead will require more than the functional skills gained in advisory capacities. The incoming Council should be comprised of leaders who have worked side-by-side with people who deliver our community services … leaders who understand the nuances of Evanston and have built relationships that can drive innovative thinking and action … leaders experienced in taking responsibility for people’s well-being and development … and leaders who spend each day helping people address important issues. 

Christopher Hart for Alderman, 6th Ward

chris@hartofthe6thward.com

Comments

JunadRizki

Sat, 02/14/2009 - 23:21

Chris - your comments are correct - as you may have noticed - I kept on asking Marty Lyons ( budget Director )to advise the council about the future. I felt next year the council would be blaming him - when all these events come together, rather than themselves.
Interestly enough a few of them when they passed the budget raised concerns - Alderperson Rainey make a comment the others will not be here next year when things are going to be bad.
One point he did make the pension short fall is going to get worse - since they are going to be releasing those numbers in March - My thought the payment will increase between $500,000 to over $1,000,000 if the council wants to adjust for the falling Market.
Also the revenues are likely to continue to shrink.
When this budget season started I was stating they would be having a tax increase in 10-15% range - they kept it at ZERO and no cuts - so next year will be very interesting.
I think anyone sitting on the council next year will have to be very hard skinned, since it will not be pleasant.
 
 

jeffpsmith

Wed, 02/18/2009 - 05:44

Chris, these are laudable principles. I'm not sure I see the "action" in some -- could you be more specific? Example: "6.     Attract…businesses to our community by working with economic development groups, EVMark, and the Evanston Chamber of Commerce."
 
What are the actions that need to be done to attract business, rather than meetings between groups? Is simply adding more residents the answer? The real estate market analysis section of the Downtown Plan showed that there had been very little growth in number of total downtown businesses over the past 17 years despite all the residential construction, but, instead, a shift: from general merchandise stores to restaurants. Currently there are numerous vacant storefronts downtown -- besides the businesses fleeing 708 Church, there are at least 5 empty storefronts on Davis, a couple on Sherman, plus the large Chase Bank and Borders spaces on Orrington.

chris_hart

Wed, 02/18/2009 - 23:33

Jeff –
Thanks for the comment. I wrote in a previous posting about this idea of creating and promoting a “business experience” that would invite companies to a destination for work and play. I believe this would be attractive to a broad spectrum of professional service businesses that rely upon connections to talent in order to thrive.
 
Here is a personal example that may bring this to life.
 
In the past decade, we have seen a number of large professional service “agencies” (marketing, communications, production) significantly reduce their overhead by trimming both staff and offerings or, in some instance, folding due to competition that has become more agile, and more responsive. What this has created in this area is a wealth of talent and, by extension, small groups of practitioners who have formed new companies that compete on a global scale through technology and social networks. Where are these companies? They are in pockets of downtown Chicago and in the suburbs where those networks are nurtured both socially and intellectually.
 
Evanston is uniquely positioned to actively recruit these types of companies. Their employees are constantly engaged in academic and graduate pursuits. Their cultures thrive on the sharing of information that takes place when people can simply get together in comfortable, social settings. Their needs align with mass transit and proximity to larger corporations (their clients). Their desire is to be connected to an area that has accessible and diverse talent.   
 
As an owner of one such company, I see these possibilities in Evanston. I am willing to work toward the creation and promotion of this type of business environment and actively market to target firms.
 
I have a few meetings scheduled in the upcoming weeks on this very topic and am hoping I can give you a more developed response regarding specific ideas and actions. I look forward to sharing more ideas shortly.

 
chris@hartofthe6thward.com