In praise of the watchers

To the Editor:

I applaud the Herald’s recent editorial (“Village tax hike should be the last for a while,” April 19-25) urging village officials to take a hard look at the village finances before considering another tax increase. Although I did not vote for this year’s tax increase, I did support the efforts to stabilize the commercial tax base in order to eliminate a necessary $1 million budget line for future tax certiorari payments and to lay the foundation for an upgrade of village bonds. Such an upgrade would lower future borrowing costs and would have an exponential effect on future village finances.

It is critical to adopt village initiatives that not only lower costs, but offer the opportunity to generate non-tax revenue, as well. One such example is the E-Cycling program I started in the village. In the past, having our electronic waste carted away cost the village money. Now, not only have we eliminated that cost, we have partnered with an organization that pays us to take the electronic waste out of our village. As we develop greater participation from schools, businesses and residents, this is a program that only has the potential to grow, and we may realize a profit of nearly $50,000 this year alone.

One way to do this is to be more open and responsive to the concerns of our residents. That’s why I initiated an office hours program. For the first time in village history, a member of the village board scheduled separate hours for any resident to come down to Village Hall and discuss questions, concerns or even suggestions to improve the village. This initiative has resulted in taxpayer concerns getting addressed promptly, questions getting answered immediately and valuable suggestions getting the attention they deserve. I am the only trustee to have ever opened my office to village residents for personal consultation and am proud to have done so.