Latest budget proposal scales back cuts to Evanston police and fire departments, includes property tax increase

Pioneer Press Newspapers (Chicago, IL)

Nov. 14--Evanston aldermen could look to raise property tax after all, as they struggle to make up a projected $7.4 million deficit in 2019 while preserving services that residents have signaled they want to see maintained.

According to a revised proposed budget presented to City Council members Monday, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz proposed the council consider a 2 percent property tax levy, which he said would raise $820,000 for the city.

"As the council debated the various reductions, I came to the conclusion that it was appropriate at that point to put forward a 2 percent" property tax levy, Bobkiewicz said after the meeting. That's about the same percentage as the property tax levies assessed each of the past four years.

For an Evanston resident whose home is valued at $400,000, that could mean an increase of about $35, according to city budget reports.

Evanston aldermen are scheduled to vote on the fiscal year 2019 spending plan at the Nov. 19 meeting.

The city's fiscal year runs Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.

Bobkiewicz also proposed finding additional revenue by increasing charges to insurance for ambulance response -- which would raise an additional $400,000, hiring two parking enforcement officers, which should raise about $400,000 in fees and charge for Sunday parking at meters from noon to 9 p.m., raising an additional $145,833, among other alternatives. Currently, Sunday parking at Evanston meters is free.

An additional $700,000 will come from a real estate transfer tax increase on homes valued at more than $1.5 million, which Evanston voters approved earlier this month by way of a ballot referendum, according to the revised proposed budget.

And all Evanston employees, both union and non-union, would not receive a pay raise this year. That should save the city a total of about $1.4 million, according to the revised budget.

In return, Bobkiewicz eliminated an earlier proposal to get rid of nine firefighter positions and close and sell a fire station. Instead, according to the revised proposal, four firefighter positions would remain vacant but not be eliminated.

Kevin Tanaka / Pioneer Press

Fire fighters stand during the special public hearing on the proposed FY2019 budget October 27, 2018 to support not closing Evanston Fire Department Station 4. Under a revised budget presented Nov. 11, the station may not be closed.

Kevin Tanaka / Pioneer Press

Kimkea Harris, of the Ill. Fraternal Order of Police Council, speaks at the budget public hearing Oct. 27, 2018 in Evanston. On Nov. 11, aldermen were presented with a revised spending plan with fewer cuts to the police department.

The fire department's overtime budget would increase by $224,680, according to the proposal, and another $20,000 will be spent on a department study to learn more about how to keep costs down.

In the police department, where Bobkiewicz had proposed eliminating nine positions, four officer jobs would be held open at a cost of $444,000, according to the revised proposal. The department's overtime budget would increase by $100,000.

The revised proposed budget comes as Evanston expects to face a $7.4 million deficit in the proposed $110 million spending plan for 2019.

The anticipated shortfall stems from a $4.9 million shortage in the general fund, $1 million for bond payments for construction of the new Robert Crown Community Center and $1.5 million needed in the reserve fund, according to the budget proposal.

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