By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
Members of the Plainfield Village Board continued their deep dive into the village’s financials this week, taking a peek at an overview of part of next year’s proposed general fund budget. Board members are currently in the process of reviewing the budget proposals for all department for the 2019/2020 fiscal year (FY20), which begins on May 1, 2019.
Director of Management Services Traci Pleckham presented a portion of the general fund budget during a special meeting on Oct. 29. The review covered the administration and finance detail of the general fund, which includes legislative, administration, community relations, facility management, human resources, and IT departments.
Pleckham said there are no real surprises in the general fund for FY20, with the proposed budget mirroring the current fiscal year budget. Most budget increases reflect cost of living increases for salaries, wages, and benefits.
“There are no significant changes within this budget at all, the only categories that have changed in any way are salary driven, slight adjustments based on certain line items that need to be adjusted up or down,” she told trustees regarding projected administrative expenditures for FY20.
The facility management portion of the budget faces just a slight increase for FY20. But, Pleckham told the board, the village would watch the division closely to see if any problems pop up that need to be addressed.
“It’s just a slight increase of about $2,500 requested relating toward some of the salary and benefit line items as a component of public works employees’ salaries,” Pleckham said. “Those are programmed into facility management because they work through the village hall facility to help us with some of the maintenance here at village hall. Other than that, it’s relatively the same, building maintenance and building improvements are kept at a consistent number, but the age of the building is getting to a place where we might need to do additional maintenance. There are some key areas that we might want to look at even this year, and probably next year as well. We’ll bring those forward if they’re significant.”
The total budget for administration and finance for FY20 is $7.7 million, up from the current budget of $7.3 million.
By division, expected expenditures break down as follows:
- Legislative – $410,000
- Administration – $1.3 million
- Community Relations – $181,210
- Facility Management – $171,100
- Human Resources – $290,300
- IT – $450,000
The budget also includes $4.1 million earmarked for contractual services with Waste Management for refuse hauling. That number marks the biggest increase in expenses in the administration and finance portion of the general fund budget, increased from the current year’s budget of $3.9 million.
The board also reviewed budgets for the building and planning departments.
The general fund covers both the city’s administrative departments as well as the police department. The total expected revenues for FY20 in the general fund are currently projected at $26.5 million, and the proposal is currently balanced for revenues and expenditures.
The draft financial documents can be viewed on the village website, www.plainfield-il.org.