Neal Ney’s experience tells him Evanston residents have high expectations.
However, Ney, director of Evanston’s library system, said those expectations are not unique to his department. He says the entire city government is held to standards that may be beyond its fiscal means.
“I’m sure you’d hear this from any other city department head as well,” Ney said. “There’s a substantial imbalance between what the community expectations are from the library and what we can provide. Expectations are very high and the tax base is not high enough to support some of those services.”
Operational expenses cover salaries for city staff and the departments designed to make residents’ lives easier. But not everyone agrees about what level of service the city government should provide and how to spend its money more efficiently. In formulating a budget, the city staff and council must decide how to trim expenses without decreasing residents’ quality of life or overworking employees.
The city’s proposed 2004-05 budget, which must be approved by March 1, does not increase operating funds for services, including the library. City Manager Roger Crum said the downturn in the economy has caused the city to cut employees and limit operational expenses over the past two years. But Crum said he is confident residents will not be affected too much by the downsizing, even though the city will not hire new employees until $20 million in pending legal liability is settled.
“Public service is at about the same level,” Crum said. “But if you talk to people internally, you’ll find your people are stretched a little thin.”
The city plans to spend more than $78 million on operating expenses next year, and about 80 percent of those expenses will be on salaries.
To match inflationary costs, the city will increase expenditures with a 3.5 percent raise for employees that was negotiated with unions last year, a 14 percent increase in medical insurance costs, and a 1 percent increase in spending on goods and services based on the Consumer Price Index.
For Ney, this meant an increase in his materials budget based on the national inflation rate on prices of goods, but his budget was not expanded to accommodate keeping the South Branch Library open during early evening hours.
Raymond Summers, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1891, which represents many city employees, also said employees must work harder to keep services at a high level.
“There are locations in the city that are understaffed,” Summers said, “and we are doing everything we can for the residents and business community in Evanston to make it not as hard-hit as it could be.”
Summers said the union still thinks its current contract is fair and is not yet concerned about the next contract, which will be negotiated in 2006.
“We feel it was a fair contract and we’re content with it,” Summers said. “If it wasn’t a good one we’d still be negotiating.”
Even if the council does not increase Evanston’s operating budget, it remains larger than budgets of many other municipalities in the area relative to the number of residents they have, leaders said.
“We’re a diverse community, and therefore we are what is called a full-service city,” said Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th).
Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) said he thinks overall personnel costs could be decreased, though he has not yet decided where. But at the same time, he often receives calls from residents who are dissatisfied with the services that they have the most contact with, such as parking, traffic and engineering departments.
“I do ask questions when we get into the budget time frame,” Moran said, “and I try to find out about different departments and framework. Now is the time to start contemplating those things.”
Tisdahl, a first-year alderman, also is seeing where funding should be increased or decreased.
“I would get the fire department better equipment and I would hire more police officers,” if the city had more money, she said. “There are things we could cut — there are minor things. The fire department doesn’t need new uniform shirts and they perfectly could have survived with the old ones.”
The Daily’s Matt Lopas contributed to this report.
About this series
Evanston faces a perennial budget deficit, and the choices aldermen and staff must make to resolve it reflect the complex set of values in a diverse city. This series examines four main methods the city can use to bring balance, both to its ledgers and to the community.
Monday: Property taxes
Today: Operating expenses
Wednesday: Programs and services
Thursday: Fines and fees
