Shields Township to spend heavily on roads

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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:36AM

The Shields Township Board of Trustees is aiming to increase funding sixfold for road repairs in the 2013 fiscal year budget.

The board met Jan. 19 during a lengthy workshop to hammer out the new budget, which will run from March 1, 2012 through Feb. 28, 2013.

The township budget is split into two funds -- the Town Fund, which includes the Supervisor’s Office, General and Emergency Assistance, the Assessor’s Office and the road commissioner’s salary; and the Road District Fund, which covers repairs to nine miles of roads in the Townships unincorporated areas of Knollwood and Arden Shores North and South.

Expenses in the Road District Fund budget are projected to exceed income by just over $90,000 in fiscal year 2013, largely due to $120,000 planned for road repairs, an almost $100,000 increase over the amount spent on road repairs during fiscal year 2012.

Total income for fiscal year 2013 is just over $258,000, with expenses budgeted at almost $349,000. Road Commissioner Bill Goodman said reserves will be used to make up the deficit. If the new budget is approved, reserves in the Road Fund will be around $680,000.

‘Bad shape’

“We’ve got roads in such bad shape,” Goodman said. “I’ve been holding off and patching, but we’ve got to do the repairs.”

Goodman could not say for certain which streets will be resurfaced.

“I try to go to the places that need it the most and that are the most used,” he said.

The Town Fund expenses have dropped steadily from $1.04 million in fiscal year 2010 to just over $920,000 in fiscal year 2013, an 11 percent decrease.

During the same time period, General Assistance and Emergency Assistance expenses -- both state-mandated services all township offices provide -- have increased. In fiscal year 2010, the township distributed General Assistance and Emergency Assistance funds totaling just over $21,000. That combined amount rose to over $25,000 in fiscal year 2011 and is projected to be $37,500 in fiscal year 2012 — a 75 percent increase in three years.

The Shields Township office has seen an “unprecedented demand for services” spurred by the economic downturn of the past few years, according to Supervisor Gale Strenger Wayne.

Food pantry traffic saw a 28 percent year-over-year increase, Strenger Wayne said.

“Through word of mouth, there’s more traffic in the office,” Strenger Wayne told the commissioners during the budget workshop Jan. 19.

During the budget workshop, Strenger Wayne asked to put back $4,000 for a township newsletter that was eliminated during fiscal year 2012.

No newsletter

The commissioners voted 3-2 not to restart a printed and mailed newsletter. Strenger Wayne and Commissioner Mary Woodson of North Chicago cast the two votes to restart the newsletter.

The commissioners who voted against the mailed update cited an improved township website and two monthly board meetings held in North Chicago during the current fiscal year for why they voted against the expense.

During a discussion on the North Chicago Senior Taxi vouchers, Strenger Wayne suggested moving the $4,000 from the eliminated newsletter to bring the taxi budget to $34,000, since the taxi budget expenses for fiscal year 2012 are projected to go over the $30,000 budgeted amount.

The board, however, decided to stay flat on senior services across the board, budgeting $30,000 for the North Chicago Senior Taxi and $25,000 for the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Senior Center.

Town Fund revenue for fiscal year 2013 is estimated at $843,200, which is a 29 percent reduction from the $1.18 million in revenue in fiscal year 2010.

Property tax revenue has fallen from nearly $1.13 million in fiscal year 2010 to $800,000 in the upcoming budget. The nearly $78,000 difference will come from reserves, which at the moment exceed $900,000.

The budget is available for public review until the public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Shields Township office, 906 Muir Ave., in Lake Bluff when commissioners will vote on approving the budget.