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Roselle finance director previews 2026 budget, proposes new fees and cuts $250,000 from property-tax request
Summary
Finance Director Tom Dahl told the Village of Roselle board he reduced the proposed property tax request by $250,000, cited inflation and personnel as primary cost drivers, and outlined proposals for Dec. 1 that include expanding the amusement tax to streaming and raising video-gaming and utility surcharges for further discussion.
Finance Director Tom Dahl presented the Village of Roselle's budget update to the village board on Nov. 10, saying staff cut the property-tax request by $250,000 and would use general-fund reserves to cover the reduction.
"We reduced again, the property tax by $250,000," Dahl said, summarizing changes to the scorecard and explaining the projections are a plan, not a guarantee. He said that if assumptions hold, the projected fund balance would be about 42% of expenditures at year-end.
Dahl told trustees the main drivers behind year-over-year increases from 2021 to 2025 are inflation and service expansion: higher legal and IT costs in administration, added personnel and insurance in finance and fire, and increased grounds-maintenance and electricity costs in public works. He noted the board previously approved adding six firefighter/paramedics, which increased salary and pension costs.
The finance director also identified specific operating pressures: office-furniture and staffing changes in 2024, added grounds maintenance acreage, and rising commodity costs. "Road salt has gone from about $46 a ton to almost $82 a ton," Dahl said, pointing to inflationary pressures on public-works commodities.
For the Dec. 1 agenda, Dahl said staff will present several revenue and fee changes for the board to consider, including expanding the village's amusement tax to cover streaming services and raising the amusement-tax rate (packet materials show a proposed increase to 5%), increasing the annual fee per video-gaming terminal from $2.50 to $7.50, and proposed water, sewer and capital-improvement surcharges. Dahl noted packet figures showing the combined impact would result in totals of $27.63 in DuPage County and $23.82 in Cook County for the listed surcharges.
Dahl emphasized that the budget is a planning document and that some proposed items remain subject to later board action. The proposed fee and tax changes will be discussed further at the board's Dec. 1 meeting.
The board asked no substantive follow-up questions during the presentation and took no immediate votes on the items Dahl previewed.
