Politics & Government

Barrington Fights Emerald Ash Borer, Budget Cuts

A recap of the April 11 Board of Trustees meeting.

Trees and potential budget cuts were topics of discussion at the Barrington Board of Trustees meeting April 11.

For the 25th year in a row, the Arbor Day Foundation has named Barrington a Tree City USA community.

Qualifying communities must have a tree board or department, a tree-care ordinance, a community forest program with annual expenditures of at least $2 per capita, and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.

Find out what's happening in Barringtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We are really proud of our trees,” Village President Karen Darch said at the board meeting April 11.  “Arbor Day is a great celebration of that.”

The village is also taking action against the Emerald Ash Borer in an effort to protect ash trees throughout town. The board has chosen to work with Natural Path Urban Forestry Consultants to get rid of the pests. The company will be issued a contract to complete a comprehensive parkway tree inventory and develop an Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan. The tree killing bugs were discovered in Barrington last year.

Find out what's happening in Barringtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Also up for discussion at the April 11 meeting was the topic of balancing the state budget in Springfield. President Darch spoke about the very real possibility that cuts in the state budget could result in withheld revenues at the municipal level.

“The local government distributive fund, a portion of sales tax, a portion of state income tax…those are items of revenue to the village that are passed through to us from the state,” Darch said. “Those items are potentially on the chopping block.”

The Village of Barrington has already reduced its staff by 19 percent over the past two years in an effort to keep a balanced budget in these tough economic times. Further revenue cuts could have a major impact on Barrington and other communities.

 “If there is a reduction in the revenue that should be coming to the village from the state, again we will have to look at cuts in our budget,” Darch explained.

Illinois lawmakers have until May 31 to pass the state budget. 


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