Total Elk Grove Village Budget Proposes Spending $187M

Elk Grove Village trustees took their first look at village administration recommendations for a total spending budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 of about $187 million Tuesday, with general operating fund spending of about $70 million.

The new fiscal year begins May 1. 

Village staffers are expected to take feedback from trustees, make adjustments to the budget and bring the budget back for possible approval by village trustees. Finance Director Christine Tromp said her goal is to bring the updated recommended budget back to village trustees at the Tuesday, April 11 village board meeting. 

Total fund spending includes tax increment financing districts and capital spending, which can fluctuate from year to year. 

The recommended budget includes $187,108,019 in total overall village spending and $188,478,915 in total overall village revenues. 

Budget documents show recommended general fund revenues, which fund most day-to-day spending of $70,237,543, out-pacing general fund spending of $70,026,179 by about $200,000.

Recommended general fund spending is up 1.91% over the current budget year.

Mayor Craig Johnson said the village is accelerating its vehicle purchasing efforts, as supply chain issues have pushed out delivery of new vehicles to as long as three years. He said the village has one new ambulance ordered, and will be ordering a second new ambulance this year. He said the budget also includes spending for new public works trucks. 

Johnson said the police department is coming closer to being fully staffed, with the department down five officers currently. Those five officers include a chief, as Police Chief Chuck Walsh just retired as of Friday.    

Elsewhere in the area of staffing, Johnson said the village is having difficulty finding part-time summer help for the public works department. He said discussions are continuing, looking at who is accepted as a hire and looking at increasing compensation for those workers to make the positions more attractive.  

Johnson said six or seven new data centers are “in the pipeline.” Data centers are huge users of electricity, for which the village has a tax. Tromp said the village took in $5.8 million in electricity taxes in fiscal year 2020-2021. That grew to $6.1 million in 2021-2022. Tromp said revenues are still coming in for the current fiscal year 2022-2023. She said she conservatively expects a 5% increase in electricity taxes in the next fiscal year. She said those are hard to predict as construction schedules can vary.  

Tromp said the village will also continue prioritizing infrastructure, looking at streets, sidewalks and stormwater sewers in next year’s budget.

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