Du Page County Board members took a first step Wednesday toward the November adoption of its 1992 budget, which board Chairman Aldo Botti wants to be 10 percent leaner than the current $301 million spending plan.
During what county Finance Director George Kouba called ”a preliminary, preliminary” meeting, a board subcommittee set out to review the county`s spending needs, and wants, at a time when Kouba says the amount of non-property tax revenue generated annually is ”almost flat.”
The 1992 budget will be the first engineered by Botti, who rode to victory in 1990 on a pledge to ”ax taxes” by cutting waste and inefficiency in county government.
The county fiscal year begins Dec. 1.
Although Botti hasn`t formally presented the subcommittee with a detailed road map to reach his budget goal, he has summarily called for an across-the- board, 10 percent reduction in spending during the next fiscal year-a goal that some county department heads say is impossible without reducing services, the size of the county payroll, or both.
The call for cutbacks comes while the county faces a general escalation in operating costs. It must also decide how to finance expansion of the county convalescent center and jail, and how to establish the financial foundation for solving costly, long-term transportation, flooding and waste disposal problems.
Botti favors long-term debt to finance major capital projects, while his opponents on the board favor the pay-as-you-go philosophy espoused by Botti`s predecessor, Jack Knuepfer.
Also underlying the budget debate, which is certain to be protracted and bitter, is the 1992 campaign. All of the board seats are up for election, and incumbent members, including some who will be in new districts, must consider the fact that Botti has vowed to help candidates who challenge his enemies on the board.
Subcommittee chairman Michael Formento, of Glen Ellyn, suggested after the meeting that discussion of a county hiring freeze for 1992 wasn`t out of the question.
In response to Botti`s general directive to make budget cuts, the subcommittee, at Formento`s suggestion, adopted guidelines to help them determine a final budget.
Those guidelines include:
– Considering the establishment of any new county jobs only in emergencies, or only if the cost of the new jobs can be offset by new revenue. – Encouraging what Formento called ”job enrichment or enhancement”-
upgrad ing the jobs and salaries of some people who are capable of accepting a greater workload.
– Re-evaluating the county`s entire medical, dental and retirement plan, with an eye toward reducing county costs.
The county`s department heads have until July 24 to submit their 1992 budget requests, Kouba said.
