Forest Preserve District Approves Reduced Budget

The Lake County Forest Preserve District's overall budget for 2013-14 decreased $12.4 million over the last fiscal year.

To keep more than 30,000 acres of forest preserves in Lake County safe, clean and open for people to enjoy, the Lake County Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners adopted a reduced fiscal year 2013-2014 budget of $101.5 million at its May 14 meeting. For the fifth consecutive year, total forest preserve property tax revenues collected are projected to decrease substantially due to declines in Lake County’s equalized assessed value (EAV), and because of the district's conservative budgeting practices and wise use of available fiscal resources. The overall budget decreased $12.4 million (11 percent) from the previous year, primarily due to an $11.4 million (21.5 percent) decrease in the capital budget. Of property taxes collected in…

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Park District of Highland Park's Proposed Budget Reflects No Tax Increase

The proposed 2013-14 budget for the Park District of Highland Park includes nearly $9 million in capital improvements, including upgrades to Rosewood Beach.

The Park District of Highland Park's proposed 2013-14 budget, which projects revenues of about $28.8 million and expenditures of $28.7 million, is scheduled for adoption on April 2. The budget reflects a small surplus of $164,750. This is the third year the park district has not increased the tax levy, according to the park district. The budget also anticipates that the district will issue just under $9 million in additional debt to fund capital needs, including $4.8 million in improvements to Rosewood Beach like a lifeguard house, concession stand, restroom, a multi-use building and a boardwalk, reported the Chicago Tribune. Other improvements proposed in the new budget include $600,000 to replace the sand pit at Hidden Creek AquaPark …

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Letters to the Editor

City Budget Discussions Begin this Summer

Mayor Nancy Rotering encourages residents to stay informed about how the city spends tax dollars.

On Monday night, the City Council accepted the 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). The City publishes the CAFR every year to provide a complete set of audited financial statements and management's report on the City's finances.  I am pleased to let you  know that an independent accounting firm gave this CAFR "an unqualified opinion with respect to the accuracy and fairness of the presentation of the City's financial position and its conformance with generally accepted accounting principles."   Want Highland Park news in your inbox every morning? Subscribe to Patch's newsletter. Also, for the 27th year in a row, the City received a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance …

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forest barbieri

9:46 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012

I want to commend Mayor Rotering and our "new" council for their informative open communication style regardless of the nature of information being presented. Certainly there have and will be, challenges such as power outages, sprinkler systems, fire hydrants and the still unresolved theater . However, communication, new businesses and a sense of commitment to the community is obvious and most …   more ›

Tough Budget Decisions Await District 112 Board

Tough Budget Decisions Await District 112 Board

Highlands and Ravines

Reconciling Rhetoric With Results

Why the mayor's support for the city budget should come as a surprise.

Councilman David Naftzger could have written my column this week. The City Council approved Highland Park's budget for 2012 on Monday night. Considering the amount of campaign rhetoric the mayoral candidates unleashed on the topic of the city's finances leading up to the April election, this final budget surprises me in how little it differs from the Highland Park budgets of the last several years. Read more: Naftzger Criticizes Council On Budget When City Manager Dave Limardi submitted the draft of what was his final city budget proposal, my initial reaction was relatively muted. Though there were a few surprises, including the substantial percentage increase in sewer rates, the 2012 budget proposal looked like actual spending for 2011, …

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District 113 Passes Budget for 2012

Board makes $1.9 million in cuts; has $375,000 in reserve.

The District 113 Board of Education passed its budget at last Monday night's board meeting. The budget boasts a $375,000 reserve for fiscal year 2012, something Board President Harvey Cohen said is an effort to shore up any potential budget shortfall in 2013. The budget was passed as presented at last week's meeting. Cohen described the budget as balanced, citing reductions in operations now total $3.7 million for the last three years. The recently passed budget reduced capital expenses by $1.9 million.  In 2012, federal and state funding and grants will constitute four percent of the budget, Cohen explained, with the remaining 96 percent coming from local real estate taxes. The budget includes a one percent salary increase for staff, …

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District 113 Gets Glimpse at 2012 Spending

Board receives outline of preliminary budgets and recognizes seniors as school year winds down.

With the end of the school year in sight, there were some thank you's in order as well as some big questions about what's to come for Township High School District 113. On Monday night, the board of education heard an update on the fiscal 2012 and 2013 budgets. It also recognized some exceptional students and programming in the district for Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools. Board member Michael Smith gave a report on the finance committee, which met earlier in the evening, about the budget proposals and noted that preliminary data would be available online starting Tuesday. Smith said there would be $3.7 million in expenditure reductions that would result in a balanced budget for fiscal 2012. "Those sacrifices are as far away from …

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Mayoral Candidate Profile: Nancy Rotering

Nancy Rotering seeks mayor's seat with an eye on re-evaluating the city's spending priorities.

Nancy Rotering spends a lot of time at her campaign headquarters -- which is to say, her dining room. Right now, she's waiting for campaign manager Alyssa Knobel to stop by and give her updates before Rotering’s four boys get home from school and take turns at the piano. Campaign materials, Christmas wishlists and packing lists for an upcoming vacation surround Rotering as the family dog, Ted, vies for her undivided attention. “We’re not doing this right now,” she tells the persistent pet. What Rotering is doing is making a bid for mayor, with the goal of changing the political climate of Highland Park for the better. Highland Park native Rotering's motivation to run stems from the nagging feeling she's always had to take action. “It all …

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City Council Struggles to Reach Budget Consensus

Tension escalates among members with different perspectives on 2011 financial plan.

Toward the end of the last budget meeting, City Councilman Steve Mandel reached his breaking point. Already in the process of packing up his things at around 11 p.m., Mandel got up to get his laptop bag when Mayor Michael Belsky told him to sit down. "I said, 'You know, Mike, I'm not going to put up with you and listen to you behave that way,'" Mandel said. This wasn't the first tense exchange to take place during a budget meeting; stress has been mounting as the Highland Park City Council tries to reach a consensus on key aspects of the 2011 budget, which is slated for approval at Monday's final budget meeting at 3 p.m. "A few people's tempers were flaring," said councilwoman and mayoral candidate Nancy Rotering, "But some of us were …

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David Greenberg

11:33 pm on Monday, December 13, 2010

The reserves need to be held back for emergencies, things we have "gotta have" right now that weren't in the budget (e.g. extra salt for winter roads, repairing water main breaks), and for covering costs of anticipated infrastructure needs that we saved for. Not for funding salaries for a department that has little to do any more because of the recent economic downturn. We need to spend less than…   more ›

Citizens Voice Concerns About Test Scores and School Budgets to District 112 Board

Citizens for Property Tax Relief asked for cuts to District 112's spending at Tuesday night's board meeting.

Low test scores and budget concerns were addressed at the North Shore School District 112's board meeting Tuesday evening. Presentations for the board and members of the community  showcased last spring's standardized test scores for each tested grade at each school in District 112. The district as a whole averages extremely high test scores, with two exceptions -- Red Oak and Oak Terrace. This disjoint was accentuated when members of the community spoke to the Board at the beginning of the meeting. Riva Lipman, who has a fourth grader at Red Oak school and a seventh grader at Edgewood said that "immediate attention" was needed to remedy the low test results. Lipman said that the Red Oak community cherished the school's diversity but also…

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David Greenberg

5:44 pm on Thursday, November 18, 2010

Thank you for the insight. In my opinion, teaching to the tests isn't right and shouldn't be done. If we've gotten to the point where we have to give up our educational values to pass some arbitrary test, just so we can get a few State or Federal tax dollars - then we ought to look at refusing those State/Federal tax dollars and relieving ourselves of the testing burden. But I realize that it's …   more ›