Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Long Range Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Downers Grove council adopts 2025' 2027 long-range plan; revenue adjustments built into FY26 budget
Summary
The Village Council unanimously accepted the 2025' 2027 long-range plan, aligning strategic goals with financial steps and embedding previously approved revenue changes into the FY26 budget planning process.
Village Manager Dave Felman presented the 2025' 2027 long-range plan as a combined strategic and financial guide that includes priority action items, revenue strategies and an 18-month work plan. Felman said the plan identifies strategies estimated to generate up to $4.6 million in enhanced revenue and confirmed that the council had already approved two revenue measures that will appear in next fiscal year's budget (SEG 3996'SEG 4141).
The manager explained the primary revenue items: an increase in the home-rule sales-tax allocation (as directed by the council) and a hotel-tax adjustment; Felman said both measures were already approved and would be reflected in the budget materials (Dave Felman, SEG 4052'SEG 4084). The plan purpose is to tie strategic priorities to realistic financial assumptions and provide a modality for annual budgeting and the guiding DG implementation work.
Councilors discussed whether to add social-services capacity to the priority-action list. Commissioner Chris urged a closer look at the village's referral workload and coordination with township and newly opened county resource centers; the council asked staff and the Human Services Commission to examine the current state, gaps, and opportunities (Commissioner Chris, SEG 4150'SEG 4271). Mayor Barnett and others said many priority items already require substantial staff work and that the commission could evaluate social-services needs without that item becoming a standalone high-priority action.
After discussion, Council moved and unanimously accepted the long-range plan. Felman said staff will publish the FY26 proposed municipal budget at the end of October and begin public budget meetings in November, carrying the plan's priorities into the budget and implementation schedule (motion and vote, SEG 4949'SEG 4964).
The plan includes no new planned general-obligation debt issuances beyond previously planned water-system bonding; staff noted the plan preserves flexibility for future budgeting decisions and will be revisited each summer.
What happens next: staff will publish the proposed FY26 budget, continue work on priority action items, provide monthly status reports on the plan, and return to the council with adjustments as needed. "These solutions provide annual budgeting flexibility and allow the council to make implementation decisions each year," Felman said.
