Police, fire and the public library were among Evanston residents’ top priorities in the city’s budget process, according to the results of an online budget poll conducted earlier this month.
Residents rated the most important city services in the city’s online budget poll that ran from Oct. 1 to 5. About 62 percent of the 1,100 respondents voted police the most important, and fire came in second at 50 percent. The library and the library branches tied for third, both at about 44 percent.
City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said the survey was part of the city’s initiative to involve residents in forming the budget, which includes a deficit of about $3 million.
“Last year, we tried to increase citizen involvement and reach out to folks to get their ideas for helping us with budget issues,” Bobkiewicz said. “Not everyone has a chance to go to community budget meetings, so we wanted to give people another opportunity to let us know what they’re thinking.”
Residents also voted on ideas to increase revenue and to decrease spending, which were generated at the budget input sessions held on Sept. 14 and 29. Top ideas included renting out space at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave., reducing outside consulting costs, eliminating Evanston Township and limiting the Evanston City Council’s spending.
“It’s always interesting to hear people’s take on what we should be doing about the budget,” Bobkiewicz said. “Certain things like leasing out the Civic Center and spending less money on outside litigation we’re already looking into. We’re also considering selling Lake Michigan water to surrounding residential communities because right now, the water is for city use only.”
Bobkiewicz said that in terms of the top city services, police and fire being high priorities is not a surprise.
“We already spend a lot of money on police and fire, so that’s more of a reconfirmation that we should be spending that money on those services,” he said.
Evanston Police Department Cmdr. Tom Guenther said he could not comment on EPD’s budget concerns, but he said he felt the results of the poll were feedback on how the department is doing.
“The public did view police as a city service which they felt ranked high on their list of priorities, reflecting their faith in us as an organization,” Guenther said. “It also tells us that we do a good job, that we’re very professional and we serve the public in a good manner.”
The bigger debate over budget concerns is on the issue of library branches. Bobkiewicz said while he recognizes the importance residents put on the branch libraries, he thinks the budget discussion’s focus should be somewhere else.
“In my recommended budget, the focus is on the main library,” he said. “Resources are tight, so I think we should invest as much as we can into one library to make sure we have a main branch that’s very strong, rather than trying to focus on the library branches. I know some people in the community will disagree with that, but that’s what I told city council.”
The city council will begin budget discussions Oct. 23, and the first public hearing will be Nov. 8. Bobkiewicz said the council hopes to have the budget finalized by Nov. 22.
