Higher Taxes Coming to Crest Hill

At the last work session concerning the City budget at the end of June, the budget as it stood after all the adjustments made during the weeks of hearings was presented.  Mayor Soliman then followed with questions of the council members regarding their opinions on various budget issues.  The final budget was approximately $300,000 in deficit even after every fix was made.

The Mayor kicked off the questions by asking each Council member individually if they would support increasing the utility tax on electricity and natural gas or the sales tax.  The City Administrator and the Mayor discussed the rates in surrounding communities to justify that Crest Hill is below average in taxes and should catch up.  The majority of Council members supported doubling the utility tax to bring in a little of $100,000 of additional revenue annually.  This will be enacted in the near future since the Mayor got the support he needed to raise it.  The Council was also open to raising the sales tax, but recognized that it would be years before any additional revenue would be seen, since the tax would need to be approved by the voters and they would need to do a long educational campaign before there would be any chance of getting it passed at referendum.

The Mayor then asked each member if they were comfortable with the budget being in deficit as it stood.  A number were comfortable with it either because they felt that it was the best that could be done under the current circumstances, felt that a great effort had been made and it was much better than it could have been, or recognized that a large part of the deficit is due to one time costs due to switching insurance.  Others were uncomfortable with it, but were challenged by the Mayor and council members who pointed out that there had already been weeks of discussion and that a budget had to get passed.  There seemed to be an attitude of this is the best that we could come up with so everyone should be comfortable with it.

The final question each alderman was asked was if they had any ideas to fix the budget.  A number of members advocated tightening on small expenses such as costs of conferences,  the purchasing coffee and disposable cups for City Hall, and the Mayor's gas and petty cash expenditures.  These items would not make a huge dent in the budget, but were looked at as every penny counts and making sure the Council was feeling some of the pain as well as the city staff.  Alderman Sternisha spoke on some of the suggestions he has made to the Council early on in the hearings regarding freezing salaries and not hiring more employees, but he did not have the whole list because the Council had not been expecting this line of questioning at this particular budget hearing.  Alderman Convery for some reason decided to attack Sternihsa's suggestion of not hiring more employees and kept asking him to be specific as to who not to hire.  Convery did not seem to grasp the idea that not hiring any additional employees did not mean to firing recently hired employees, but instead meant that from that point forward not hiring any more.  The Treasurer also spoke on some of his ideas for furlough days for city employees and creating an annual business license as opposed to the current license that is good forever.  He was pointing out that Menard's paid $25 for a business license that is good forever, while many households pay more than that each year just to get city vehicle stickers.  The City Clerk got quite upset at this since her office would have to issue the permits and she had not been consulted.

The Mayor gave everyone an insight into his thinking just in the order of the questions and how he presented them.  His first thought was to raise taxes, then to gauge comfort with being in deficit, and lastly to looking for other solutions.  This city needs leadership who put finding solutions and alternatives first and put raising taxes as last resort.  Unfortunately, Mayor Soliman looks to our pocketbooks first and makes it clear that higher taxes come before all else.

Looking to the Future

The Crest Hill City Council has still not balanced the current budget, however that has not stopped them from committing to spending money out of future budgets.  They apparently feel that it is better to try to bust future budgets instead of fixing the current one. 

This is topped off by the fact that the expenditure was for landscaping the medians at the intersection of Weber and Renwick roads at at cost of $20,000 - 30,000.  Both of these are county roads, but the county has the sense not to pay such a high cost for landscaping in the middle of a roadway.  Romeoville is paying a similar amount to landscape their half of the intersection though and a number of Crest Hill officials did not want our half to not match theirs.  So the taxpayers will be stuck paying to keep up with our neighboring community and rejecting the county's offer to pave the median like they have elsewhere around the county.

The only council member to question this expenditure was Alderman Sternisha, who was quickly shot down by another alderman who saw no problem spending future year's money since it did not impact the budget they were currently looking at.  Alderman Convery also brought up the need to beautify this gateway to the city.  However, if we are looking to beautify I can think of many other places to do work at a lower cost.  For example, a number of commercial property owners in this city have decided that mowing is unnecessary.  It would cost the city far less to enforce its weed ordinance and would go a long way to make our commercial properties attractive to developers and businesses. 

If we really want to make this an attractive community; lets balance our budget, have property owners along our main thoroughfares clean up their properties, look for less expensive ways to enhance all of our entrances, and not commit future funds unless future revenue sources have been identified. 

I am all for planning for tomorrow, but those plans should not be how to create future deficits to add to the one we are currently facing.

A New Day in Crest Hill

The voters of Crest Hill have spoken today and have made it clear that the era of unethical and scandalous government is over.  Mayor Churnovic was defeated in his bid for re-election and the City Council candidates he supported and funded were defeated as well.  This is a good day for Crest Hill.  Four years ago many people were happy to see change, but few realized that change was not always for the better.  Today though we have seen real change and that change is for the better.

Our city will be led by a Ray Soliman, a man who has spent years pushing for open government and calling on the city to follow the proper procedures.  I feel strongly that Mayor Soliman will lead the city with a strong sense of ethics and care for citizens.  I am sure I will disagree with some of his decisions and positions, but I look forward to having a Mayor who will treat all citizens with fairness.

Aldermen Dyke, Lelis, and Convery were re-elected.  Lelis and Convery have been very outspoken on pushing for city government to be more responsive and for the Council and Mayor to work together to improve Crest Hill.  They have also both been very strong advocates for the interests of their wards.  Alderman Dyke is a very level-headed and practical member of the Council.  He did not take on the corruption of the past four years head on, but he has always conducted himself independently of the disputes among other members of the Council.  These three aldermen will serve the city well for the next four years.

The third ward, where I live, elected a new alderman, Neal Sternisha.  I have had the chance to get to know Neal and talk with him on many occasions and look forward to having him as my alderman and also look forward to what he will bring to the Council as a whole.  In particular his professional background in the water and wastewater fields is of particular value to a city facing massive capital outlays to improve our own systems in those areas.  In addition, he is someone who has spoken out for the need for more ethical government in Crest Hill and stood up to a brutal campaign financed by Nick Churnovic.

This is truly a bright new day in Crest Hill.  I hope that all of those who won election tonight remember that it was the desire of the people of Crest Hill for a more ethical and open government that got them elected.  I will be looking forward to seeing a better government, but also will be looking to see Crest Hill move forward and continue to develop to its full potential.