The Burr Ridge Village Board has approved by a 4-1 vote an $11.6 million budget for fiscal 1999-2000 that projects a decrease in revenues and a sharp rise in expenditures that will wipe out the surplus generated this year.
Steve Stricker, village administrator, projected general fund revenues to be $6,481,890 in the new budget, 4.2 percent less than the $6,757,255 realized for fiscal 1998-99.
He estimates general fund expenditures will increase 13.5 percent to $5,881,965 from his year-ago projection of $5,182,880. The general fund for 1998-99 could show a surplus of $599,925, he said. The largest expenditures outside the general fund will be for capital improvements, water and debt service, he noted.
Dolores Cizek, who voted against the budget, was opposed to appropriating $50,000 to conduct a legal battle over the village’s tax incremental financing district. “The village has already spent over $20,000 this year,” she said.
Cizek mentioned a host of other costly items–among them a second proposed strategic planning meeting, parkway tree plantings, furniture and police car markings–that total $95,000 that could be cut from the budget.
“Burr Ridge is spending $1,240 per person,” she said, “while our neighbor La Grange Park will spend only $690.”
