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La Grange Village President Elizabeth Asperger has a request for Gov. Pat Quinn.
Say no to any reduction of municipal revenues in the proposed state budget.
In a letter to Quinn earlier this month, Asperger called on the governor not to reduce the municipal share of the state income tax from 10 percent to 7 percent as the result would be “catastrophic.”
If approved, the Village of La Grange would lose an estimated $400,000 of state-shared revenue.
Asperger joined numerous other community members of the West Central Municipal Conference in personally writing Quinn a letter of protest over the proposed cuts.
Asperger stated “the village has had to reduce capital expenditures and rely heavily on its reserves to maintain village operations.”
The financial impact as a result of this unforeseen reduction in state shared revenues would be catastrophic.
She said March 29 it is tough to plan with the cut.
“The issue for La Grange is our financial health is based on budgeting conservatively,” she said. We always have used at least a five-year financial plan and have always maintained healthy operating reserves. We are concerned about depleting reserves and going below what we consider to be a healthy level. Anything that causes us to dip into our reserves is something we pay close attention to.”
WCMC Executive Director Richard Pellegrino, who is a former village president from Indian Head Park, said the issue is serious for communities in the area already grappling with unfunded state mandates and tax caps.
“Every municipality within the WCMC is opposed to the governor’s unilateral slashing of the municipal share,” Pellegrino said. “It’s been in place for four decades.”
Pellegrino said the proposal is especially shocking because Quinn appeared before 273 mayors at the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, just weeks before the primary, and asserted he would not impact the municipal revenue share.
“You have a continual source of unfunded mandates from Springfield and at the same time cutting the revenue stream? It doesn’t make sense,” Pellegrino said.
La Grange Village President Elizabeth Asperger has a request for Gov. Pat Quinn.
Say no to any reduction of municipal revenues in the proposed state budget.
In a letter to Quinn earlier this month, Asperger called on the governor not to reduce the municipal share of the state income tax from 10 percent to 7 percent as the result would be “catastrophic.”
If approved, the Village of La Grange would lose an estimated $400,000 of state-shared revenue.
Asperger joined numerous other community members of the West Central Municipal Conference in personally writing Quinn a letter of protest over the proposed cuts.
Asperger stated “the village has had to reduce capital expenditures and rely heavily on its reserves to maintain village operations.”
The financial impact as a result of this unforeseen reduction in state shared revenues would be catastrophic.
She said March 29 it is tough to plan with the cut.
“The issue for La Grange is our financial health is based on budgeting conservatively,” she said. We always have used at least a five-year financial plan and have always maintained healthy operating reserves. We are concerned about depleting reserves and going below what we consider to be a healthy level. Anything that causes us to dip into our reserves is something we pay close attention to.”
WCMC Executive Director Richard Pellegrino, who is a former village president from Indian Head Park, said the issue is serious for communities in the area already grappling with unfunded state mandates and tax caps.
“Every municipality within the WCMC is opposed to the governor’s unilateral slashing of the municipal share,” Pellegrino said. “It’s been in place for four decades.”
Pellegrino said the proposal is especially shocking because Quinn appeared before 273 mayors at the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, just weeks before the primary, and asserted he would not impact the municipal revenue share.
“You have a continual source of unfunded mandates from Springfield and at the same time cutting the revenue stream? It doesn’t make sense,” Pellegrino said.
