By Ted Schnell • BocaJump

Elgin’s new Budget Advisory Task Force meets formally for the first time Tuesday evening in what will be a series of meetings to pull together recommendations to the City Council on spending cuts and on generating new revenues through 2016.

The task force’s meeting comes one night before the Elgin City Council will convene to consider, among other things, a presentation on the 2012 budget process, to include consideration of the roles, responsibilities, goals and objectives of the various players — from the council to the task force to the city staff — in the coming months.

Elgin faces a $4.5 million deficit in its general fund next year, largely more fallout from the Great Recession of 2008 that left hundreds of thousands unemployed and saw the housing market collapse, sending government tax revenues plunging at the local, state and federal levels.

At the same time, one of Elgin’s plum funding sources, the Grand Victoria Casino, whose revenues the city has dedicated largely to capital projects such as streets and water/sewer improvements, also has been hit. Revenue generated for the city by admission fees and gaming tax receipts peaked at $24.3 million in 2007, only to plummet to a little more than a projected $13 million this year. The recent opening of a new casino in nearby Des Plaines is expected to draw traffic away from the Elgin riverboat, and city officials are anticipating its revenues will drop to $10.54 million in the coming year.

While that revenue has not been used to supplement the general fund, it has helped the city focus the general fund on other core services even as it used riverboat revenues to update and replace its aging infrastructure, among other needs.

Task force recommendations due in October

Chaired by Carl Missele, Mayor David Kaptain’s campaign manager, the task force will be working under a tight timeframe. The 13-member panel will meet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. each Tuesday through September in the Heritage Ballroom at The Centre of Elgin, 100 Symphony Way.

The task force’s recommendations to the City Council are due in October.

One of the panel’s tasks will be to assess the priorities of Elgin residents in terms of what they consider to be core services and what they are willing to pay for them.

To that end, the city lists community engagement as areas of expertise among Missele and two other the other 12 panelists, and city officials hope residents will turn out the series of task force meetings.

The city lists Missele’s other areas of expertise as education and meeting facilitation.

Other task force members, and their areas of expertise, include:

• Barbara Bonner, public education/administration;
• Jen Carr, financial lending;
• Karla Guzman, community engagement and outreach;
• George Hahne, economic development and marketing;
• May Hopkins, social work and workforce development;
• William Kelty, information technology, health care;
• Karen Maki, public administration and community engagement;
• James Nowicki, government finance;
• Keith Rauschenberger, corporate finance;
• Thomas Sandor, business accounting;
• Patricia Segel, human resources;
• Toby Shaw, business management.

Nearly two weeks ago, when the City Council voted to authorize the task force, the discussion of the matter included several key points.

City Manager Sean Stegall reminded the council that he ultimately is responsible for preparing a budget proposal to the City Council, whether or not the task force makes recommendations. From that perspective, he said, the task force’s efforts will be a help to both the city staff and the council. His remark came as he reassured Councilwoman Tish Powell that the task force would be representative of the entire community in terms of demographics and geographic residency in Elgin.

It also elicited a reminder from another council member that ultimately, no matter what recommendations the task force makes, the City Council still will be responsible and accountable for approval of the budget.

After the members of the task force were named Aug. 1, Powell wrote in an email:

“In addition to helping the City Council identify funding priorities for future budget years, I also see the new task force aiding in the city's continued efforts to reduce expenditures and diversify our revenue stream so that we are not so dependent on property taxes and riverboat money.”

Councilman John Prigge, the only other council member to respond to an inquiry by BocaJump, echoed concerns he raised during the July 27 task force discussion. At that time, he cast the sole dissenting vote against establishing a task force whose members had not been appointed yet.

“After reading the list of members, their backgrounds and why they were selected, it's clear to me that this is the mayor’s task force,” Prigge wrote. “I am hopeful they will make the best use of their 14 hours of meeting time to make an unbiased recommendation.”