Possible Rises in Parking Tickets, Car Stickers, Non-Union Insurance Costs in 2011 Village Budget

Get ready for the possibility that parking ticket and vehicle sticker fees will go up, as well as insurance costs if you are a non-union village employee.

Last week, Orland Park staff and trustees met to decide ways to ease a projected budget shortfall of about $1.8 million in the 2011 village budget. Staff said the shortfall could be pinned mostly to rising insurance costs and a continuing drop in development, which means less in permit fees collected by the village.  

In 2007, at the height of development in Orland Park, 137 new building permits were issued. In 2010, that number dropped to 13 and in 2011 that number is expected to drop to 11, said Orland Park Village Manager Paul Grimes.

On the costs end, insurance claims went up by 22 percent in 2010, and staff is predicting claims will be similar in 2011. The village likely will split the increase with non-union workers, absorbing 10 percent with the remaining 12 percent being shouldered by the non-union staff. But how exactly those costs will be covered is expected to be talked about at the next meeting.

While opinions differed at times on how to reach the goal, all agreed that it could be done without layoffs this year.

"We made some tough choices when we had to, but we're in a better position now in doing so," Mayor Dan McLaughlin said during the meeting. McLaughlin went on to point out that about 360 people worked for the village when he first joined as mayor, and now 263 people are employed by Orland Park.

Potential Cost Changes for Fiscal Year 2011:

• Parking tickets go from $50 to $60.

• Vehicle stickers, good for two years, go from $15 to $30 for passenger vehicles.

• Senior vehicle stickers, also good for two years, go from $1 to $10.

• Insurance costs for non-union village employees will increase to cover a little more than half of the 22 percent rise in claims, but how that actually will be collected was not decided.

• Tax levy for recreation department programming goes from 8/10 of a cent for every $100 of equalized assessed value of a home, to 3 cents per $100 EVA.

• Parks and Recreation fees for non-Orland Park residents could also go up, but specifics were not decided yet.