Brookfield braces for 2010 budget
Tax increase question could be on February ballot
11-4-09 (From The Landmark)
Officials in Brookfield are telling village employees to brace for wage freezes and furloughs in the coming year. Meanwhile, village department heads are being told to hold the line on large capital expenditures, such as vehicle purchases.

There also appears to be support among village trustees for increasing ambulance/paramedic fees as a way to increase the village's sagging revenue numbers for general operations.

The belt tightening that characterized Brookfield's village budget in 2009 will continue in 2010, with cash in the village's operating fund expected to remain low. By the end of 2009, the village projects having just $300,000 in its general operating fund, which represents less than one payroll payment to village employees.

Facing that reality, the village board has asked Village Manager Riccardo Ginex to investigate formulating a question that could be placed on the ballot as early as February, asking voters to approve a property tax increase to help fund operations.

Ginex said Monday that he is working on different scenarios he will present to the village board at its Nov. 9 meeting.

Village President Michael Garvey said that after raising fees and fines in past years, the decision to look at a tax referendum was the only way to raise the kind of revenues needed to keep the village operating in the black.

"The only real revenue is from a property tax question, a referendum question," Garvey said in an interview Friday. "There really is no other revenue source. Most of our expenses come from employee costs and most of our revenue comes from property taxes. This isn't rocket science."

In 2010, the village's general fund will face additional pressure from mounting pension costs. According to Finance Director Doug Cooper, the village is facing nearly $500,000 more in pension contributions in 2010 compared to 2009.

The village intends on funding pensions at those levels, and won't defer the payments.

"I'm not a proponent of pushing those off to future boards," Garvey said. "But that comes right off the top."

During a discussion of the 2010 budget at the village's board's committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 26, layoffs were not specifically addressed. In the past four years, Ginex said, the village has laid off the equivalent of 14 full-time positions, including 6.5 in 2009.

In addition, two vacant positions remain in the police department and one in the fire department.

"So we're 18 positions down," Ginex said. "Do I want to lay off anyone else? No."

Cooper said last week that a draft version of the budget will be given to department heads this week in preparation for a workshop between management and department leaders later in the week.

The draft budget likely won't be released publicly by Nov. 9, which is the date of the next village board meeting. The budget will be the main topic of discussion during the committee of the whole session, which immediately follows the regular business meeting.

Both meetings will be held in the board room of the Brookfield Village Hall, 8820 Brookfield Ave., beginning at 6:30 p.m.

However, the draft budget will be ready for the board's formal budget workshop, where trustees will hammer out the final document. That meeting is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 18.

At the board's last committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 26, Ginex laid out various cost-saving measures for 2010, while department heads also suggested additional options.

The largest cut Ginex suggested was deferring replacement of two fuel tanks at the village's public works complex. The decision will save the village $250,000, Ginex said.

The money for replacing the tanks was supposed to have come from a grant from the state of Illinois, one approved this summer as part of the state's capital projects bill.

However, that money has not been released, and village officials said that the money may never become available as the state grapples with how to fund that capital bill. Much of the state's funding was expected to be derived from video poker proceeds, but legalized video poker is facing resistance in many municipalities, including Brookfield.

Ginex also said the village could realize a savings in 2010 of $137,000 if all village employees agreed to a wage freeze for the coming year. Management staff have already been notified that their wages will be frozen for 2010, a savings to the village of $24,700.

However, whether the village's union employees are willing to accept a wage freeze is up in the air. Village management is in the process of negotiating new contracts with all of its bargaining units, including police, fire, public works and clerical staff.

Non-union employees of the village were mandated to take five unpaid furlough days in 2009, and Ginex has suggested that the practice continue in 2010, a savings of $30,000. However, he stated that the furlough days could be delayed until the second half of 2010 in order to gauge the village financial position.

Finally, Ginex suggested offering an early retirement incentive to veteran employees, where the village would pay for up to two years of medical and dental insurance, depending on the employee's length of service with the village.

Employees with over 20 years of service would be eligible for two years' worth of medical benefits. Those with between 11 and 19 years would be eligible for one year. The village would then receive a cost savings if the positions were filled with more junior personnel or left vacant, Ginex said.

What's the question?
Editorial in The Landmark – 11-4-09
Even as it was becoming clearer over the past two years that Brookfield's financial position was headed in the wrong direction, officials with the exception of Trustee Michael Towner said they didn't think it would come to a tax referendum. Further, they said, they weren't sure voters would go for it anyway, given the deteriorating general economy and more recent tax increases from schools and the public library.

Well, the unthinkable is about to be unleashed on the public. While it's in the form of an "investigation" right now, we're pretty certain there's going to be some sort of tax referendum question for Brookfield on the February primary ballot.

The reason is the village realizes it needs to raise money sooner rather than later. If it waits any longer, it'll be a good two years before the village realizes any additional money for operations - if a referendum is successful, which is in no way guaranteed.

This is going to take one heck of a sales job. In addition to an economy still mired in a recession (forgive us if we're not jumping on the "recession is over" bandwagon just yet), Brookfield officials have to win the trust of voters who have seen some odd things in the last couple of years with respect to village finances.

It was just a year ago that the real financial condition of the village began showing its face. A tax levy snafu involving the library, a stunningly low 2009 consumer price index, pension investment wipeouts all contributed to the bleak outlook for 2009 and 2010.

The last nail in the coffin was the 2008 financial audit, which proved that the village didn't have the money in its general fund to sustain operations without either more revenue or more cuts.

Convincing voters will be tough. The best way for the village to make its case is to present the situation clearly, without hysteria, but with a real sense of what the numbers are.

And if voters are being asked to suck it up and pay more money just to keep services at the pretty basic levels they are at today, then we'd also request that stakeholders in village government, from administrators to union employees look at what they can do to make the blow as pain-free as possible.

Voters are losing jobs, taking pay cuts, paying more for health insurance. If you want voter support, we'd suggest that village government and employees keep that reality in mind.

When it comes down to it, the village - employees and residents alike - are necessarily a partnership. Taxpayers pay for services that employees deliver. Both sides must believe they have each other's best interests in mind or the whole puzzle comes apart.

SEE WHAT THE VILLAGE OF BROOKFIELD PUBLIC SAFETY WORKERS
ARE SAYING ABOUT THE STAFF CUTS AND HOW THEY WILL EFFECT
THE PUBLIC SAFETY OF ALL BROOKFIELD RESIDENTS.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT IT!

Brookfield in cash crunch
Short on money, village will extend line of credit, implement cost cuts
Landmark 2-25-09
Faced with unexpected expenses, lower-than-expected tax revenue, higher insurance costs and late payments from state agencies, Brookfield's village manager Monday sounded a warning on finances.

He also recommended the board approve an early retirement incentive to non-union workers, eliminate the village's annual "clean-up" weeks, implement an employee furlough policy and consider staff layoffs if the situation doesn't improve in the coming months.

"I'm also asking directors to take a more diligent look at their departments, to restructure and find more efficient ways to operate," Village Manager Riccardo Ginex told trustees Monday night. "I think that's essential."

During the board's regular committee of the whole session, Ginex laid out the cash crunch facing Brookfield and asked trustees to extend a line of credit that is scheduled to expire March 8.

With cash on hand tight, Ginex said the village needed to extend the line of credit with First National Bank of Brookfield for six more months, because the village could not pay off the $650,000 owed by the March 8 maturity date.

"We're not out of money," Ginex said during an interview Friday in his office at village hall. "It's a cash-flow position."

Ginex estimated Monday night that the general operating fund reserve is at $900,000, but on Friday the village's finance director, Doug Cooper, who started with the village in January, indicated he was still unsure exactly what the village's cash position was.

The village's 2007 audit indicated a general fund balance of over $7 million as of Dec. 31 of that year. But village management says that number does not reflect the village cash reserve. The village's day-to-day operating costs are paid through the general fund.

Whatever the actual general fund number is, the situation is serious enough that Ginex recommended implementing immediately an early retirement plan for non-union employees where the village would pay out $25,000 to employees close to retirement over four months, or those employees could use that money to pay for health insurance premiums until the amount is expended.

As for replacing those employees, Ginex said that positions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Some of those positions may be eliminated. Others may remain vacant until the budget allows them to be refilled.

Trustees agreed to let Ginex move ahead with that plan, which will also be presented to union employees soon, and to scrap the annual clean-up weeks, where public works employees haul away large trash items (such as appliances and furniture) during a two-week period throughout the village.

While the program is popular, Ginex said that homeowners can already have one large item per week hauled away under the village's existing garbage contract. He estimated the savings in man hours and disposal fees in the $100,000 range.

The village will also implement immediately a five-day unpaid furlough for all the village's non-union employees, a measure that would save the village $136,000, said Ginex, who also said that the furlough issue "has to be on the table" for union employees, who are all negotiating contracts with the village this year.

Ginex also floated the idea of layoffs.

"This is the worst-case scenario, but it has to be on the table if finances don't improve," Ginex said.

Ginex said that Cook County taxes, which normally are paid in the last two weeks of February were late, that the state was two months behind on income tax payouts to municipalities and that the village was waiting for $177,000 in grant reimbursements from Metra.

In a memo to trustees at Monday's board meeting, Ginex stated that since Jan. 1 "we have reduced cash on hand by approximately $922,000."

Late payments accounted for part of the cash crunch, but other factors included a decline in Cook County property tax revenue by $300,000, a $175,000 unexpected charge to the village by its risk management cooperative, some $180,000 in staff overtime related to January snow removal and $90,000 in additional road salt costs.

Assistant Village Manager Keith Sbiral said the combination of revenue hits and added expenses will mean some budgeted items for 2009 will either be pushed back to the second half of the year or be cut.

"We continue to cut back on discretionary projects to supplement our core personnel costs, benefit costs and union obligations," Sbiral said.
The village's $125,000 financial software replacement effort is still expected to be completed this year, but not until after June. Meanwhile, the $35,000 set aside in the 2009 budget for codifying the village's ordinances and building code may be deferred until 2010.

The village will also not fill several vacant positions, including one each in the police and fire departments, one in the building department and two in public works.

Getting a handle on finances
THE LANDMARK VIEW
2-25-09
It's not a secret that at some time in the future, Brookfield was going to have to address its financial situation. During the annual budget hearings late last year, village staff warned that expenditures continued to outpace tax revenues and that the village board was going to have to deal with that structural issue.

But few could have seen that the time to address it would be just over a month after the village pass The first warning was sounded late last week when the village published Monday night's board packet on the Web. A committee of the whole item regarding the village's line of credit with First National Bank of Brookfield indicated that the village was not in a position to pay off its debt by the March 8 maturity date of the loan. Village management was asking for six more months to pay it off.

The Landmark last week requested an interview with the village manager and finance director to address the village's finances. During that meeting Friday morning, it also became clear that there was uncertainly about just how much money the village had in its general operating fund reserve.

On Monday, Village Manager Riccardo Ginex, in response to a question by VIP Party presidential candidate Wil Brennan, stated that the general fund had "about $900,000" in cash on hand. It sounded like a guess!

From early 2006 until January 2009, Brookfield had no finance director to speak of. While the village outsourced CPA services, the 2007 financial audit (released in 2008) was a perplexing document that was at complete odds with the budget that the village had passed way back in 2006, when it was moving to a calendar fiscal year.

The audit mysteriously showed a whopping increase of almost $5 million in the general fund by the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year. At the end of the eight-month 2007 fiscal year, the fund was still pegged at over $7 million.

It's a change in the general fund that village staff has so far been unable to completely explain and is an issue that the village's new finance director is attempting to unravel. Last Friday, he said he hoped to have the question answered this week.

In the meantime, the village has notified its non-union employees of an early retirement incentive, an unpaid furlough program and the possibility of further cuts if the finances don't change.

There are forces beyond Brookfield's control that have conspired to make the situation worse and more immediate. The village is not alone in being buffeted by a national economic spiral.

But, now that the case for cuts has been made, Brookfield government needs to bring solid, understandable financial data to residents and show them what the situation is now and what it looks like it's going to be in the years to come.

Builders In default
Forest Creek townhome development lender
Landmark 2-18-09

The Forest Creek Townhomes, a vacant 18-unit development at 3627-31 Forest Ave. in Brookfield, is in foreclosure with the property's owners on the hook for $4 million.

The development is just the latest local project to run into financial trouble. Earlier last month, the developer of the Courtyards of Brookfield, a 16-unit townhome project, announced that he would seek to auction off up to 11 residences after notching just one sale in the past year. The auction is slated for March 1.

Elsewhere in Brookfield, the former Brookfield Moose property at 4000 DuBois Blvd. has had a pair of liens filed against it since August 2008. That property was to have variously been home to a condominium building and a townhome development. The parcel is for sale.

In Riverside the unfinished luxury townhome development at Burlington Street and Herbert Road in Riverside was hit with a foreclosure suit that is still pending in Cook County Circuit Court.

On Jan. 27, Private Bank and Trust Company filed a complaint in the Chancery Division of Cook County Circuit Court seeking the foreclosure and sale of the development along with fees associated with court costs and maintaining the property.

Bass Builders, the general contractor for the project is named as the defendant in the suit as are two of its reported principals, Kerry Koranda and David C. Purdy, both of Clarendon Hills.

On March 27, 2007, Private Bank loaned the pair $5.35 million, setting March 31, 2008 as the maturity date for the loan.

According to the foreclosure complaint, Koranda and Purdy owe $4.07 million in principal and interest on the loan through Jan. 23.

Calls to both Koranda and Purdy were not returned.

The Forest Creek Townhomes have been star-crossed since they were first proposed for construction back in 2006. The village's Zoning Board of Appeals recommended against granting zoning variations, principally because the development lacked enough parking.

But the village's board of trustees overturned the zoning board's ruling and granted variances

The Salt Creek walk bridge was finally installed today 2-5-09!!!
We are happy that the Hypocrite President Garvey and the PEP Party Board finally got in done! We should all thank God that nobody got hurt or killed walking in the street for the last 4 years! PEP made campaign promises in the 2005 and 2007 elections that it would be done right after those elections. Better late that never or could it be there is an election in April and people would have remembered those past promises? Why was the engineering for that bridge done 4 times? That was about $200K in taxpayer’s money!

After 5 years, new bridge in place !!!
The Landmark Newspaper 2-5-2009

Commuters have been waiting nearly five years, but soon they will be able to walk from the Prairie Avenue Metra station across Salt Creek by way of a new foot bridge installed today on the south side of Brookfield Avenue.

While the bridge is in place on top of the concrete piers, work is not yet finished and it won't be available for commuters this evening.

The new bridge replaces the rusting span closed down in April 2004, when it was determined to be unsafe. The replacement looks remarkably similar to the old bridge, installed in 1986, except that it is painted to prevent the corrosion that proved to be such a problem in past years.

Workers shut down Brookfield Avenue between Arden and Forest avenues this morning and set about removing the old bridge, which was bolted to concrete piers on either bank of Salt Creek.

After freeing the structure from the bolts, the bridge was picked up by a crane to clear power lines along Brookfield Avenue and swung clockwise over the street before being placed on the roadway. A worker then sawed the bridge in half so it could be carted away on two flat-bed trucks.

This afternoon, the two halves of the new bridge were bolted together and were lifted by the crane onto the existing concrete piers. However, new bolts needed to secure the bridge to the piers were not able to be installed today.

Village Manager Riccardo Ginex said he was not sure when the bridge would be open to foot traffic, and that the village might hold an official ceremony next week.

“POOR PLANNING AND VILLAGE MANAGEMENT
COST BROOKFIELD TAX PAYERS MONEY!!!”

Brookfield puts in call for more road salt

600 tons means bill for 2008-09 winter close to $250,000

Landmark 1-21-09

Facing a dwindling road salt supply and the prospect of two more months of snow and ice, the Brookfield village board voted on Jan. 14 to purchase 600 tons of salt despite prices that are already breaking the budget.

The newest order, which also includes more sand and salt additives, will cost Brookfield roughly $90,000. In November, Brookfield ordered 1,200 tons of salt from the International Salt Co. at $138.52 per ton, totaling over $166,000.

In the 2009 village budget, passed by trustees on Jan. 12, just $150,000 was set aside for road salt. With the latest purchase last week, Brookfield has pledged to spend roughly $250,000 on salt.

In 2007, Brookfield paid less than $40 per ton for road salt and budgeted roughly $66,000 for that line item. The village was one of many towns which were left to fend for themselves after a loophole in the state's cooperative bidding process for road salt failed to yield a contract with a salt vendor for 2008.

Even towns that were picked up during the state's bid process, like Riverside, saw prices jump. In 2007, Riverside paid also under $40 per ton for salt. In 2008, its price went up to just over $60 per ton.

"I made a promise to the board that this would get us through to the end," said Brookfield Public Works Director William Heider.

Through late last week, Brookfield had used some 600 tons of the salt/sand mix that public works crews have been applying to streets. Heider is making the salt last by applying the mix only and doing it sparingly.

Trucks apply the salt mix at intersections only, though trucks are plowing all of the streets.

A combination of consecutively snowy days and cold temperatures have kept a layer of snow on the pavement-something that many residents have complained to Heider about.

His response: Be patient.

"People forgot what a Chicago winter was like," said Heider, referring to a stretch of 13 winters where Chicago saw at least 40 inches of snow only twice.

Through last week, some 40 inches of snow had fallen in the Chicago metropolitan area since the start of winter. Chicago averages around 38 inches of snow in winter. In 2007-08, the city was socked with 61 inches of snow.

The area had not seen close to 60 inches of snow during a winter season since 1981.

"In past years, everybody's expectation of snow removal was that they'd be on good pavement after two days," Heider said. "People are just not used to it. They have short memories of what used to be."

Riverside has also run through just over half of its salt supply as it headed into the second half of January. Greg Koch, who took over the reins of the Public Works Department on Jan 5, said that the village has used roughly 500 tons of the 900 tons it was promised.

Last week, Riverside received another 200 tons from its supplier, Cargill, with another 200 tons available for the rest of the winter.

Riverside's approach to salt usage is a bit different from Brookfield's. For example, Riverside does not mix its salt with sand. Second, Riverside salts its main streets- Longcommon, Delaplaine, Barrypoint, Riverside Road, Lionel, Desplaines, Woodside, 31st Street, Harlem, Forest, and East Burlington-but does not salt residential streets.

"It's mainly due to the fact there's a salt shortage and we're trying to manage our supplies better than in the past," Koch said. "We're keeping those secondary routes safe and clear of snow. People just need to maneuver the streets a little slower than they would normally do."

Brookfield increasing fees for yard waste, water
Landmark 1-21-09

Six months after absorbing increases for garbage services, Brookfield residents will be hit with another increase for landscape waste removal when the village board votes on Jan. 26 to pass along the increase, effective Jan. 1.

In addition, Brookfield will pass on the second of three water increases that resulted from a hike in water charges to suburban customers from the city of Chicago. The city in 2007 announced that it would be increasing water charges over 40 percent between 2008 and 2010. Last year, Brookfield home and business owners saw a 4-percent hike in water charges.

For 2009, the price customers pay for water in Brookfield will jump to $4.07 per 100 cubic feet of water, an increase that includes a rise in administrative costs as well as the water itself.

That increase represents a 6 percent hike in water costs over 2008. Residents can expect a similar increase in 2010, the final year of the three-year phase-in of Chicago's new water charges.

With respect to waste hauling services, Brookfield homeowners will see the fee for landscape waste removal jump another 2.5 percent from $4 to $4.10 per month. That's on top of a 48-percent increase in landscape waste removal the village imposed back in August, when it renewed Groot Industries waste hauling contract for one year.

At that time, Groot's five-year contract with the village was coming to an end. Village officials suggested extending the contract for a year to give staff time to put together criteria to be used for inking a new garbage contract in 2009.

Village Manager Riccardo Ginex said last week that staff would like to expand recycling services in particular, and that Brookfield would seek requests for proposals from waste haulers this year before settling on a new contract with any one firm.

The contract would include waste hauling for single-family homes and two-flats. Multifamily residential and commercial buildings would still have to negotiate their own waste hauling contracts

We all know there is a nationwide economic recession but

in Brookfield it is like a depression under the current administration!

Economy puts squeeze on townhome projects
Brookfield units will be auctioned; Riverside site for sale, in foreclosure
The Landmark News 1-14-09

On the block: 11- units at the Courtyards of Brookfield will be auctioned off on March 1st.

The nationwide economic recession and stagnant real estate market has caught up with two local townhome developments, with one heading to the auction block in March and the other in foreclosure.

Last week, the "for sale" signs in front of the Courtyards of Brookfield at Shields and Eberly avenues came down in favor of two signs announcing the auction of 11 unoccupied units in the development.

The project, which features 16 townhomes in four separate structures, broke ground in the spring of 2007 at a base listing price of $355,000 per unit. The development has been completed, but only one unit has sold. Four others are occupied and have rent-to-own leases.

The remaining 11 townhomes will be auctioned off on Sunday, March 1 by Sheldon Good & Company starting at a minimum bid of $189,000. According to Michael Fine, executive vice president for Sheldon Good, the owner of the property is obligated to sell four of the townhomes subject to the $189,000 minimum bid. Other units could be sold off for more or less than the minimum.

"We just decided to break with the traditional marketing and decided to use an approach that can lead to the immediate sell out of the Courtyards," said David Hrizak of Burzak Investment Group, which owns the development. "It's an opportunity to sell the remaining inventory and buyers can name their price."

Fine said that owners looking to move real estate can take a couple of different routes. They can reduce the sale price over time and find the marketplace over a longer period of time, or they can auction the property by setting a low minimum price "and let the bids come up to the market."

Open houses for prospective bidders will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. at the property on Feb. 1, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22 and 28. Attendees will be given a primer on the auction process as well as be given access to units up for bid.

Burlington townhomes face foreclosure

Meanwhile, a proposed luxury townhome development on East Burlington Street in Riverside, is in the midst of a foreclosure action, which was started last month.

On Dec. 18, 2008, Park National Bank filed its foreclosure complaint in the chancery division of Cook County Circuit Court, stating that it was calling its loan and naming James F. Gay, David Sundstrom, Eric Sundstrom and David Knecht as defendants in the suit.

The suit seeks repayment of roughly $3.3 million of a $7.3 million mortgage that was executed on May 30, 2007. The mortgage was due to mature on Nov. 30, 2008. The bank also seeks possession of the office building at 52 E. Burlington St., which houses the Sundstrom Agencies and which was put up as collateral for the mortgage.

On Dec. 29, Park National Bank asked the judge to appoint a receiver for the properties, but that does not appear to have happened at this point, according to court records on file with the county.

Robert Patullo, the attorney for Park National Bank, declined to comment on any aspect of the suit.

Reached on Monday, Eric Sundstrom said that he is in negotiations with the bank regarding the foreclosure action. In addition, the development has been put up for sale through Sotheby's, with an asking price of $3.1 million.

Sundstrom said that "a couple" of buyers have shown interest in the development, half of which has been built.

The townhome project was first pitched to the village in March 2006, but did not win approval until the end of that year. Other delays, including a lengthy storm water system review by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District in 2007 and a harsh winter in 2007-08 delayed construction.

Sundstrom said that ComEd committed to install power to the property in January 2008, but didn't do it until September, by which time the bottom had fallen out of the economy.

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