Dupage Policy Journal

Mayor Joseph Broda recently requested that Gov. Rauner preserve the state budget without removing any revenue.

The governor’s proposal could potentially cut the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) by 50 percent. This 50 percent amounts to more than $1.1 million that could be taken from the revenue of the Village of Lisle.

Unlike other areas, the Village of Lisle is a community without the revenue options to create a broad income base. This revenue is used to provide necessary services to the residents of the Village of Lisle, and losing these funds would cause a significant negative impact in the lives of local residents.

If the governor chooses to remove the revenue, then local government functioning and municipal budgets will suffer. Additionally, the governor and his officials do not seem to have considered reforming pensions for police and fire service.

Cutting the LGDF funds and ignoring the persistent problem in pensions would hit municipalities hard, Broda said in a letter.

“At the local level, there is no larger issue to address than the unsustainable costs of public safety pensions,” Broda said.

“We have heard the calls for local governments to tight their belts,” Broda said. “It is important to note that most of us have been doing that since 2008. We ask that the state craft a fiscally responsible budget without further impairing local governments and the taxpayers we all serve.”