Arlington Hts. to cut $2.2 million from budget.(News)

Four months before Arlington Heights' annual budget debate begins in earnest, village trustees agreed to chop $2.2 million from the coming 2003-04 budget.
Trustees voted 7-2 Monday night to cut that amount from the village's anticipated expenses, while unanimously agreeing to increase the village's 2002 property tax levy just enough to maintain existing tax revenue.

Trustees Stephen Daday and Joseph Farwell voted against the proposed cuts because they include taking $594,000 from the village's street resurfacing program.
"We should reprioritize that" and look elsewhere in the budget for that amount, Daday said.

Village President Arlene Mulder said the reduction should last for just a year, if the economy starts showing more strength. She said the question of money for street resurfacing can be revisited in March, when the village board holds public hearings on the new budget.

Also among the measures applied to the 2003-'04 budget, which takes effect May 1, are:
- Seven full-time employee positions will be left vacant, even though village officials said doing so means delivery of some services will be slower.
- Leases on some municipal vehicles will be extended, saving $631,800, but risking higher maintenance and repair bills.
- Moving the salaries and expenses of three police department employees and two vehicles from the general fund to the parking fund, whose revenue comes from municipal parking lots. The move could lead to a future hike in the parking fee.
- Raising the 2002 corporate property tax levy, which goes into the general fund, by 4.5 percent, or $188,933, which would keep it at the same level as last year.

Trustees are trying to close a $7.8 million hole in the budget's general fund, which pays for basic services like fire, police and public works, without causing too much pain to residents' pocketbooks or village services.

Village Manager Bill Dixon said those measures combined with a previously approved hike of the village's telecommunications tax from 1 percent to 6 percent - a move that could raise up to $4.5 million annually - should do the trick.

However, Dixon warned all bets are off if state legislators and Gov.-elect Rod Blagojevich alter the state's tax revenue sharing formulas as they try to solve Illinois' budget crisis.
Davis, Jon