Residents in Orland Park could soon have lower electric bills, if they vote to approve electrical aggregation on the upcoming primary ballot

Electrcial aggregation would open the village, on behalf of its residents, to shop around for electricity rates, though the power would still be transferred through ComEd. Village Manager Paul Grimes said that other municipalities in the area who have gone towards electrical aggregation saw residents' power bills drop by as much as 25 percent.

"About two-thirds of your typical energy bill comprises of your energy costs," Grimes said. “The rest is typically distribution, maintenance. So, if you look at your typical energy bill and you can save, 10 or 15 or 20 percent over the course of the year, you could save maybe $100, $125 over the course of the year if you have a typical $100 energy bill."

If every home and small business saw savings that are in line with other municipalities in the area, Grimes said the village as a whole could possibly see $2 million in savings.

Grimes also noted that this is not a sure thing and if electrical aggregation is put on a ballot and passes, residents and small businesses would have an opportunity to “opt out” of the plan, thus keeping ComEd as their energy provider. 

The full Orland Park Village Board is expected to vote on adding the referendum question at an upcoming board meeting.

Board Approves 2012 Village Budget

The board unanimously approved the 2012 budget Monday night, with $108 million in revenues and $122 million in expenditures. While the two numbers do not technically add up to a “balanced” budget, the board was quick to point out that it was still balanced.

Orland Park Finance Director Annmarie Mampe said that thanks to money that was left unused from 2011, and years past, the excess will be put toward the 2012 budget to keep it balanced.

“We don't spend every dollar we budget, so we have that surplus, and then we might budget a project we don't do,” she said. “So instead of rolling that project over, we might re-budget it later, in some future year. That's where those excess funds come from. It's just savings from prior years.”

Committee Approves Short-Term Disability Benefits for Village Employees

The finance committee also voted in favor of sending the following disability policy changes to the full board at a future meeting:

• Increasing the number of days an employee must work for the village from 30 to 180 consecutive days to be eligible for benefits.
• Adding the following “the Employer reserves the right to contract with any insurance carrier to provide part or all of the short-term disability benefits describe herein.”
• Added the underlined language “An employee is considered disabled if medical documentation supports that determination and said employee is unable to perform the duties of any position which might reasonably be assigned by the department director of the employee or by the Village Manager.”
• Changed the language regarding Comptroller of the Village to the Human Resources Office and or Short-term disability administrator.
• Reduced the number of weeks of disability payment from 52 to 26.
• Included language demonstrating that an employee can also use other accrued paid time at 100 percent in lieu of disability payments of 75 percent.
• Updated the statute reference of Illinois Revised Statues, 1979, Chapter 70, Paragraph 91 to Public Employee disability Act, Chapter 5, Act 345, Section 0.01 et seq.
• Deleted the language about the Short-Term Disability Fund as this program's payments have been made from general funds of the Village.