Evanston’s city manager says the city is heading into next year’s budget planning process facing an $8 million revenue shortfall in its general fund.
This year’s general fund budget, net of inter-fund transfers, totaled $83.5 million, so the projected revenue shortfall for next year is nearly 10 percent of general fund spending.
Evanston’s city manager says the city is heading into next year’s budget planning process facing an $8 million revenue shortfall in its general fund.
This year’s general fund budget, net of inter-fund transfers, totaled $83.5 million, so the projected revenue shortfall for next year is nearly 10 percent of general fund spending.
Under state law the city must adopt a balanced budget each year, and City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz told about 35 people tonight at a 6th and 7th wards meeting at the Ecology Center that he hopes to come up with budget that doesn’t include any general tax increase.
The city signed one-year contracts with several of its employee unions this year that called for no layoffs. But Bobkiewicz noted that those agreements expire Feb. 28, the end of the current fiscal year.
“Almost 80 percent of the budget is people costs,” Bobkiewicz said. “It will be nearly impossible to close the gap without impacting employment.”
He said he doesn’t know yet what mix of furloughs, layoffs and salary reductions might be required to balance next year’s budget.
“The goal is to be as responsible as we can to the employees, to try to do the best we can, but we have to face fiscal realities,” Bobkiewicz said.
Monday the City Council is scheduled to hold a special meeting about the current year’s budget, and Bobkiewicz says he believes the city can “manage through” for this year by trimming budgeted expenses and perhaps making some withdrawal from reserves. He said he’s not looking at any layoffs or furloughs for the rest of this budget year.
As for next year, the manager has scheduled a series of public workshops on the budget for next month, starting with a full-day session on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Levy Center, 300 Dodge Ave., to gather public input on what programs residents are willing to see trimmed and which ones they most want to preserve, and how existing services might be provided more efficiently.
Bobkiewicz, who took over as city manager in August, conceded that morale among city employees is not great. “Like people in any kind of job, they want to be appreciated and know their work is valued,” he said, adding that he is trying to meet with all of the city’s roughly 900 employees and has built a staff component into the budget workshop process, asking city workers to suggest ideas for what to do to address the budget issues.
Bobkiewicz’s comments on the budget came the same day that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said his city faces a projected $550 million deficit for next year. Daley said that given the tough economic times he will not support any tax increase or increases in fines or fees to balance Chicago’s budget.