Department heads and Morton Village Board trustees spent Monday night mulling over the numbers and trying to find a way to keep Morton’s general fund budget afloat without seriously affecting the services in Morton.
By 10 p.m., they were able to find $1.86 million to cut from the upcoming fiscal-year budget and offset a $2.7 million general fund deficit.
“At this point in time, we do not want to decrease our staff as long as they agree to no pay increases,” said Morton Mayor Norm Durflinger.
A variety of options were proposed by village board trustee Darrell Vierling, who came to the meeting prepared with a list of cuts that put the village in position to debate services and their necessity.
“I feel we can walk away thinking we’ve done as little damage as we could,” said village board trustee Stephen Newhouse.
Perhaps the biggest concern lingered over the minds of village employees who feared a reduction in police and paramedic staff. Several employees remained in Freedom Hall Monday night to listen to the budget process.
Instead, several capital projects were delayed, including work at Woodlawn, along with renovations to the Adams Street fire station.
The committee spent a good portion of the nearly three-hour meeting discussing police squad car turnover and parking along Jackson Street near the high school.
Several months ago, the village agreed to pay for the repaving of parking spaces along Jackson Street — an $80,000 measure. The Illinois Department of Transportation will not pave the parking spots.
However, the budget constraints were too much to salvage those parking spaces, trustees agreed.
“We were trying to play Mr. Nice Guy with the school board,” said trustee Jeff Kaufman.
Morton Police Chief Nick Graff was adamant about removing those parking spots, citing safety concerns. Perhaps public works director Bob Wraight was equally concerned.
“It started out as a safety issue, now it’s become a financial issue,” he said.
The committee also agreed to pay for the purchase of two police squad cars instead of three, which would save about $20,000. Graff, though preferring to replace all three, said he could handle not replacing one vehicle considering the circumstances.
“Squad cars are the most important part (of police work) other than the people who drive them,” Graff said. “We can get by with two.”
The committee also discussed increasing seized vehicle (impounded cars due to alcohol or drug-related offenses) fees from $250 to $500.
With the progress made Monday night, village trustees were still concerned that, without additional revenue sources, services will eventually have to be cut.
“We have to increase revenue,” Newhouse said.
Morton, Ill. —
