Net spending by the City of Evanston would increase about 7.8 percent next year under the newly proposed budget from City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz.
Major increases from this year’s budgeted levels would come from:
- An increase in water fund spending from $9.5 million to $24.6 million as work begins on a project to replace a major water reservoir.
- An increase in other capital improvement spending by the city from $22.3 million to $30 million.
- An increase in library spending from $6.5 million to $10.6 million — largely driven by plans for renovations at the main library and planning for a new library branch at a proposed new Crown Center.
- An increase in public safety pension spending from $19.2 million to $20.5 million, based on new recommendations from the city’s actuaries.
Not counting the separate library tax levy, the city manager says the city’s property tax levy will increase by 2.4 percent under the proposed budget, which would add about $46 to the tax bill of a resident with a home valued at $400,000.
Funding for most of the increase in spending will come from bonds to be issued by the city that will be paid back with interest over the next 20 years.
City officials argue that current low interest rates make this a good time to catch up on some long-deferred capital projects.
The baseline proposed budget assumes no cuts in aid to city from the state and does not include funding for pay increases for city employees. The city’s contracts with its union workers expire at the end of this year, and no new contract agreements have been reached yet.
However a package of proposed modifications to the budget includes nearly $1 million for salary increases as part of a package of $5.2 million in revenue increases and $6.6 million in expense increases.
Some of the new revenue would come from increasing parking deck fees and the hours of operation for parking meters.
The budget also sets out a series of proposed cuts if the state legislature cuts state aid. Those cuts would mostly come from layoffs and leaving unfilled positions vacant.
Cut the raises
Cut the raises the City Council approved for itself.
raises
Don’t forget the huge raise Wally B. just got for himself…like he really NEEDS it….puh-leeze!
Top performers don’t see raises like this in past three years
Does anyone in City Hall appreciate that taxpayers have been seeing relatively flat wages for several years? A 7.8 percent budget increase in one year is truly ignorant as it is far above inflation or local wage increases.
New and existing branches well thought out
As quoted in article “An increase in library spending from $6.5 million to $10.6 million — largely driven by plans for renovations at the main library and planning for a new library branch at a proposed new Crown Center.”
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I’m all for “good libraries” and education, but are the goals reasonable ?
Has the library commission or supporter defined what the new branch or the existing branches are suppose to accomplish.
Are the branches just “feel good” liberal angst—i.e. “we must do something for the ‘poor’ area [even though we don’t know how It would work] and “build it and they will come.”
Will they have books that support the students and their classes—not just place to check out pop novels ? Even the Main has cut way back on reference books that you would think students need so what will the branches offer ? At Main the computes in the Reference/Periodicals area seem to be used mostly by adults, not students—does the Loft have all the computers they need or do they have Web access else where ?
Will they have hours that are meaningful to students—i.e. after school [do students want to go from school to a library ?], will parents feel children can safely go to these libraries at night [7-9 PM] ? If not what about a bus from several schools to Main at 6PM and returning at 9PM. Why not open one or more school libraries for them to go to. I don’t see many K-12 students at Main evenings. Would not all most students—esp. children—prefer the Main to branches ?
Will there be enough staff to answer research questions student have ? Even Main there is one or at most two reference people at any one time—how many will the branches have ? No slight on them but how many reference people have extensive knowledge of more than a couple of areas—history, language, science, etc. . Are those, esp. college educated supporters, going to volunteer to staff the libraries evenings ? tutor [are they doing that now?] or do they just assume “somehow” the questions can be answered ? Or just push it off to new paid staff—can even that staff meet the need?
Recall there had been a branch on Simpson years ago—alright did not look that great from the outside.