Oak Forest Passes Budget, Pulls From General Fund To Maintain Balance

OAK FOREST, IL — The Oak Forest City Council approved a budget last month that will require officials take under one million dollars from the city's general fund in order to balance the 2023 budget.

According to city officials, council members held off on increasing the tax levy earlier in the year, which left the city in need of $800,000 to close a gap in the budget. Currently, the city is required to present a budget that leaves Oak Forest with over 25 percent of its operating costs heading into the next year.

While the plan will leave Oak Forest with about $5.3 million at the end of the fiscal year, Oak Forest Finance Director Colleen Julian said the city won't be in a bad place as the general fund was slightly higher than expected the past year due to a surplus of income tax revenue and sales tax dollars.

"We were aware of the general fund deficit during tax levy discussions," said Julian. "The City Council determined that increasing the levy while the equalized assessed value of properties is not growing is unsustainable for many households and businesses. For this reason, we chose to use alternative resources to meet our obligations."

As property value remained stagnant in the city, Julian said officials were happy to "pass some of the savings onto the taxpayers," by pulling from the general fund.

Other key points of the budget include an earmarked $9.8 million for capital improvement projects such as road and water main repairs.

At the same meeting, officials announced a raise in water rates to help fund water and sewer projects.