Politics & Government

Village Officials Talk Budget, Overspending

The Committe of the Whole gathered to review the commuter parking lot and the 2011 budget.

The commuter parking lot costs and 2011 budget were up for discussion last night at the Committee of the Whole meeting at Village Hall.

Director of Financial Services and Treasurer Jason Hayden spoke about the commuter parking lot project. Hayden explained how difficulties with soil have caused the project to cost more than expected.

"We ran into challenges with infrastructure.  The infrastructure created in the 1980s wasn't done correctly and we are now paying the price to correct the problems created when the lots were originally paved," he said. 

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Greg Summer, Director of Engineering and Building, explained that poor soil was detected underneath most of the parking lot, and is too unstable to be paved over. To fix the problem, crews had to stabilize the soil with a cement mix, add extra asphalt and improve drainage. All of the additional materials and labor add up to an extra $186,300.

"We really have two options, we could stop short of doing the west half of lot 12, that would bring us in under budget.  That would also result in the middle of the lot not being up to the same standards as the rest of the lot," Summer explained. 

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The second option would be completing the project and taking the money from the parking lot fund, which Hayden explained has sufficient funds to pay for the added costs.

In the end, the parking lot project is over budget by about $91,000.  This is less than the original $186,300 because of a $95,000 credit that will be applied for a delay in resurfacing work on Liberty Street. 

Village Board members voted to complete the parking lot project this year, and take the extra money out of the parking lot fund.  

Also up for discussion last night was the 2011 village budget.  It's no surprise that revenues are down due to the poor economy, meaning several projects the village would like to tackle will have to be put on hold.  

"As we go through very uncertain times, revenue base is very conservative.  Based on the amount of revenue we have, maintenance is all we can do," Hayden explained to those in attendance. 

"People need to understand that this is an ongoing battle and we are by no means out of it soon," Trustee Tim Roberts said.  

Despite the decrease in revenue, Hayden explained that Barrington is actually doing fine financially, largely because of the staff cuts that were made in 2008.  

"We're in pretty good condition compared to other municipalities," Hayden said.  "Difficult decisions were made at that time, but it put us in a better position now to deal with what has happened in terms of the economic downturn and the revenues," he said.  

The 2011 budget will be discussed further on Wednesday evening.  The village hopes to pass the legal budget document on Nov. 8.  That document will be available to the public on Oct. 28. 


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