Oak Lawn officials credit staff work as village earns second straight bond-rating upgrade

Trustees and village management on Tuesday credited staff actions and fiscal changes for two consecutive bond-rating upgrades that officials said have improved Oak Lawn’s financial outlook.

At the Board of Trustees meeting, trustees pointed to increases in pension funding, balanced budgets and rising fund balances as the main drivers behind the upgrades. “We increased our pension funding,” Trustee Desmond said, noting the village achieved a small surplus while maintaining services.

Village Manager Tom Veil told trustees the upgrades reflect a change in mindset among staff and leadership. He described the board’s philosophy as treating municipal money as “other people’s money,” and said tighter budget controls and decisions to trim or postpone positions helped improve the village’s fiscal metrics. Veil also said staff and management have been deliberately testing new approaches for special events and budgeting.

Veil noted the village had experienced downgrades and negative outlooks for about a decade, and that the two recent upgrades — one from Moody’s and one from another rating service — show the trend has reversed. He said staff is “knocking on wood” for an additional upgrade from Standard & Poor’s as analysts review the same performance indicators.

The board did not take formal fiscal action beyond recognizing the upgrades at the meeting. Trustees said the improvements position Oak Lawn to continue funding public safety, public works and community events without a proposed property-tax increase for 2025.

Looking ahead, trustees repeated reminders about seasonal events funded by festival proceeds and emphasized maintaining conservative budgeting practices as the village evaluates future capital needs and services.