Candidates Identify Top Issue Facing the Village

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of articles, Lake Zurich Patch will provide about  Village Board candidates' views on key issues within the village. All five candidates were given a questionnaire and had the same amount of time to prepare and submit their answers. Their answers are presented in their own words.

The order of their responses will rotate with each article so that each candidate is fairly represented.

Five candidates are seeking to fill five available posts on the Lake Zurich Village Board in the Tuesday, April 5 consolidated election. 

Incumbent Tom Poynton and former Mayor John Tolomei are running as independents. Mark Ernst, Dana Rzeznik and Jennifer Talley are running as part of the LZ Vision party along with incumbent Kathleen Johnson, who is running unopposed for village clerk.

Following are their answers, in their own words, to the question: What is the most important issue facing the Village of Lake Zurich and why?

Tom Poynton

The most important issue facing the village is continuing the process of restoring financial stability to the Village of Lake Zurich in a thoughtful, responsible and accountable manner while minimizing the impact on services provided to the residents; a huge challenge in this economy for sure.

The “Role of the Board of Trustees” as suggested and defined by the villages’ own financial staff:

•  Stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars while ensuring delivery of quality services based on citizen and business survey input.
• Develop and monitor fiscal policies that support Village services.
• Establish budget priorities based on the Strategic Plan
• Allocate resources to programs in order to deliver desired types and level of services
• If necessary, consider options for balancing the budget, including review of service and staffing levels and/or seeking additional revenue sources
• Monitor fiscal performance. 

The village board and staff will continue to fine-tune our budget balancing process. Recently the board and staff, with public input, collaborated on a new strategic plan to which future budgets will be tied. We will spend your money in furtherance of the strategic plan.

We have improved our frugality and money management and we will need to become even more frugal. Additional cuts may, at some point, have to be made. Re-tooling operations, combining functions and even outsourcing where practical will need to be considered to further lower the cost of delivering the services our residents have come to expect of the village.

There are not too many sources of revenue remaining that we haven’t tapped. Revenue growth will come mostly from new projects and an upturn in the economy that will help fill empty storefronts and generate increased sales taxes and new project property taxes. If the village can’t afford a service or program at a particular required level then that service or program may have to be eliminated or we may have to look to the private sector if the resident demand for the service warrants providing it.

The village has a lot of debt in the TIF and in unfunded public safety pensions. At some point we will run out of restructured debt band-aids. The board will have to challenge itself and its professional management staff to look at every expense and request for funds.  We will continue to look at cuts where applicable and attempt to identify potential new sources of revenue.  There are small signs that the economy is improving but not enough to change our goal of defining the new normal,  “do more with less.”  Certainly as a community we need to invest in our future but we also need to cut where needed. The challenge ahead is to find new sources of revenue without constantly dipping our hands into the pockets of the taxpayers. I am a taxpayer too and I don’t like increased taxes anymore than you do.

Some of this will be solved with an improving economy and the re-development of downtown.

Dana Rzeznik

Downtown development is the number one issue on everyone’s mind. We can’t let it stall, development has to happen and has to happen soon. I promise to devote all my energy to making this a reality.

Jennifer Talley

Addressing the current fiscal condition of the village. The upcoming budget deficit is projected to be approximately $1.5 million dollars. This is going to take a committed board who can work together creatively and collaboratively to solve these issues while keeping the public fully informed of the tough choices ahead.

John Tolomei

Rebuilding the downtown is the most important issue facing the Village. The downtown is the best location to frame the image of Lake Zurich.  It is where the lake can serve the public interest and provide a unique setting to charm visitors with quaint restaurants, unique shops, offices and living space near the waterfront.  The downtown has the potential to make Lake Zurich a destination that will attract shoppers and diners from the surrounding area to provide commercial and social benefit to us all.

Mark Ernst

I see the financial condition being the most important issue facing the village. The residents have come to expect professional services from the village. The financial conditions that have been handed down from prior administrations have eliminated the financial reserves and left the village vulnerable.   

Most important is telling the residents the truth about the village’s financial condition. I have been at Village Board meetings when I heard former mayor Tolomei say the budget was balanced, only to later learn that during his term as mayor the general fund went down from 22.01 percent ($4,242,036) to 13.89 percent (1,334,247) (Source Village of Lake Zurich, report Schedule of Expenditures and Changes in Fund Balance, for the 2008-2009 budget.)  And, the police pension was underfunded by $776,598. (Source: Presentation to the Village Board on January 24, 2011.)

That is the hole the current and future boards must dig us out of and why integrity and transparency are critical. We pledge to be open and transparent when discussing financial matters.