As new developments pad Shiloh's budget, village hires real estate marketing firm to lure even more builders

The village of Shiloh has passed a budget of $7.6 million for this fiscal year.

Shiloh Mayor Jim Vernier said "there hasn't been much change" from last year's budget.

The new budget took into effect the first week of May, and will run through April 30, 2019.

"The village is in great financial shape, and we are fiscally very responsible about how we allocate the taxpayers money," Vernier said.

The general fund budget is close to $5.5 million, with staff salaries sitting at just over half a million dollars. The police department and commission fund has the second largest budget next to the general fund, $2.5 million, of which most of that is payroll.

In terms of revenue, Village Administrator John Marquart said he thinks the village has a bright future, which he anticipates will be more visible in the upcoming monthly reports.

"We should have some development fee revenue incoming soon," Marquart said, referring to multiple different multi-family and commercial development projects underway.

Such projects include The Savannah and Hartman Lakes, both multi-family housing projects, as well as Greystone Estates, Villages at Wingate, Indian Springs and The Summit, all single-family housing projects. Commercial developments, like Siteman Cancer Center off Cross Street and Gateway Metro Federal Credit Union on Green Mount Road, will also be coming soon.

"It's a little higher this year, slightly over 600 residential units over the next six months moving ahead. So our fees will be incoming from building permits with an overall couple hundred thousand approximately gained," Marquart said.

Marquart said it's difficult to pinpoint an exact figure, due to unpredictable factors, like weather.

"Some of these projects, you might get a delay ,or they might be sped up a little bit. You just never know sometimes," Marquart said.

Overall, Marquart said: "The fiscal health of the village is pretty strong, and the sales tax revenues are continuing to grow."

He said he looks forward to the village's relationship with Buxton, a firm specializing in real estate, marketing, and operations decisions and analytics to help drive economic development.

"Hopefully, entering into a relationship with Buxton is going to help us become more aggressive in the commercial and retail market," Marquart said.

Dennis Maher, Buxton vice president, pitched his company's services to the Shiloh Board of Trustees on May 29 for a three-year contact to assist in marketing the village to retailers. An annual opt-out option is available. Marquart told trustees that the cost of Buxton's services — $50,000, annually — is available in the Capital Improvement Fund of the budget.

"We are retail experts, and you are experts of your community and what it needs. So this is a true partnership with us having the experience, tools and resources you need to bring retailers and business here," Maher said.

"We've been very conservative with our spending. We shave when necessary, but in a lot of ways we're a creature of the state of Illinois, and with Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget, we should see an uptick in the Local Government Distributive Fund," Marquart said.

Marquart said that despite budgeting "pretty flat last year," the village experienced a 10 percent hit, which he suspects with Rauner's new budget will go down to about a 5 percent hit.

The village is expected to receive about $1.4 million from the state income tax during the current fiscal year.

"I think the residents can be proud on how we budget our money and how we spend our money, so we get the best and most effective use of products and services," Marquart said.

As an example, officials said the village awarded contracts to Christ Brothers for two street projects totaling about $475,000 to be allocated out of the Motor Fuel Tax Fund, and through some local grant funding.

"Some streets, like Anderson, were not eligible for funding, so we will about $225,000 come from Motor Fuel," Megan Fuhler, public works director, said about the hot-mix asphalt overlay pavement program.

Marquart added, "It's all been budgeted."

Vernier said the village's pension fund is also in "great shape."

"We are one of the few communities who can say we have a 81 percent fully funded Police Pension Fund, and of course our other employees are in the (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund), and that is 100 percent funded," Vernier said.

Village Clerk Brenda Kern said the police pension is primarily funded through a property taxes, as required by state law.

"The amount levied for this year is $352,700," Kern said.

The village has been earmarking it's video gambling revenue to contribute to the police pension for about five years.

"Although not a requirement, the mayor and village board chose to," Kern said. "It averages about $4,500 per month. Their goal in doing this was to help raise the funding level."

This story was originally published June 5, 2018 at 11:29 AM with the headline "As new developments pad Shiloh's budget, village hires real estate marketing firm to lure even more builders."