Adopt an Equitable Village Budget

Budgets are first and foremost political documents, reflecting values and priorities. Having developed and monitored budgets for decades, I know that one must first begin on the expense side: What are our goals and objectives for the year? How do these connect to the Comprehensive Plan?

We should be concerned, for example, that the FY2025 Village Budget includes a cut in the Community Development Department budget even after acknowledging that the Village adopted a new and more expansive Housing Chapter of its Comprehensive Plan. There are no funds for a Village housing study or proactive rental building oversight.

On the revenue side we should be concerned that fees and sales taxes hit lower-income people harder. The Village’s philosophy has been to generate more funds from non-resident sources, but we need to take a fresh look at the luxury residential development that the Village is targeting and to what extent the Village requires developers to give back to the common good. On Oakton, for example, the luxury Highpoint highrise and the unfinished Homewood Suites Hotel were both heavily subsidized by the Village (indeed, the land under Highpoint was owned by the Village, but neither are delivering on their promises.

The Village may be a small part of the local municipal tax burden, but it has an outsized influence in determining the taxes that are paid to all taxing jurisdictions.

As Trustee, I will:

• Ensure that we negotiate with other taxing bodies on land use and economic-development strategies, including zoning requirements, tax-increment financing, and tax abatements, recognizing that they are controlled by the Village but have a significant impact on our schools.   

• Consider policy and project proposals with this broader impact in mind and that a more in-depth fiscal impact analysis needs to be a routine part of the analysis of any decisions.