Naperville mayor candidates think differently on budget deficit
Naperville City Council is set to begin workshops on the next fiscal year's projected $6 million deficit.
City officials have said the deficit in the spending plan for May 1 through April 30, 2016, likely will be filled with reserves and not with layoffs or cuts to services.
But the city's financial situation is causing different levels of concern among the four candidates to be Naperville's next mayor.
Steve Chirico says balancing the budget with debt and savings is "a really bad long-term financial plan."
Marty Walker says the city has taken on a lot of debt and now must budget carefully.
Jim Haselhorst says there's no need to panic if new leaders continue past practices of fiscal responsibility.
And Doug Krause says conservative estimates mean the city is on solid financial footing and not in danger of losing its AAA bond rating.
The candidates are squaring off April 7 to lead Naperville for a four-year term as the first new mayor after 20 years of George Pradel filling the role.
Before the first budget workshop - scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday in the municipal center at 400 S. Eagle St. - candidates shared their views on the city's financial situation.
Chirico, a 54-year-old business owner and city council member, said he is concerned with the practice of using reserves to balance the budget. He said he understands why the city used that strategy during the recession. But now he said it's time to increase revenue by promoting business growth, ensure the city is run as efficiently as possible and raise property taxes if necessary.
"You can't keep taking on debt to operate and to keep taxes low," Chirico said. "As the economy gets better, you need to make the more difficult decisions."
As the budget process begins Monday with a workshop about capital improvements, Chirico said it might be difficult for the spending plan to gain his support.
"I'm going to have a real hard time approving this budget because we are once again borrowing," he said. "We are a AAA-rated community. We're doing a good job financially. But that's because we've had a lot of money that we've been able to use, and we've taken on a lot of debt and we just can't keep doing that."
Walker, a 62-year-old retired firefighter, agreed that consistently using reserves to fill budget gaps could be "the key to a disaster." He said he favors finding ways to increase revenue and managing money responsibly to avoid increasing taxes.
The city in December increased property taxes for the first time in four years, raising them $24 for the owner of a $367,000 home, which is the average in Naperville. Before that, the average homeowner's taxes decreased nearly $100 in four years.
"It'll be fine down the road, but we have to be very, very careful," Walker said. "We need to be fiscally responsible so that we don't have to raise the taxes. That would be a difficult thing to do."
Haselhorst, a 55-year-old dental practice manager, said using some reserves to balance an operating budget that likely will be in the $450 million range is "not outrageous." Neither, he said, is raising property taxes to help cover a gap. He praised city leaders for handling the budget responsibly and said the city will be fine if that type of management continues.
"There are some people that are trying to panic the residents in Naperville, make it sound like the budget is out of control and you need to push the panic button," Haselhorst said. "Panicking the voters and scaring them into voting for things that are, in the long term, only going to hurt the community and hurt them is just not responsible."
Krause, a 67-year-old real estate broker and 26-year city council member, also said there is no reason for alarm because the city overestimates expenses and underestimates revenues to create a conservative budget.
"When we go through the budget process, I'm certain that were going to find out that we're really not that short when we get to it," he said.
Plans to switch from a fiscal-year budget that starts May 1 and ends April 30 also will help with projections about sales tax revenue and home values - two key figures in budgeting, Krause said.
"Changing to a calendar year would help us have more information to make a decision so that we're doing this right," he said.