Economic Downturn's Taken An Affect on the Village's Revenue

The Village of Fox Lake along with the State of Illinois, and the United States Government, through instability in the financial markets, has suffered financially.  The downturn of our economy did negatively affect the Village’s revenue stream.  The Village has not been paid its share of income tax from the State of Illinois and there was a concern about the amount of sales tax that it would receive.  Currently, the State of Illinois owes the Village of Fox Lake $244,291.  This economic downturn has further increased the gap between increasing expenditures and the sluggish revenue.  Furthermore the Village did not increase fees for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.  There was concern and the Village Board did not want to place an additional burden on the residents. The goal was to maintain services without increasing fees.

The Village’s 33 million dollar fiscal year 2012 budget represents the efforts of a great community that continues to navigate carefully through tough economic times without disrupting services to their residents.  There is committed departmental leadership, combined with financial challenges, spurring innovation, creativity and collaboration with in the Village Government.  The Village of Fox Lake’s financial philosophy is to collaborate and provide the citizens of Fox Lake with the most efficient and effective service possible.

The Village has improved its financial stability in the last 2 years according to the findings of the external audit that has been completed by its Auditing firm, Milburn Cain and Company.  The audit reflects the Villages cash fund balance has improved from $191,733 in fiscal year 2010 to $1,405,778 for fiscal year 2011.  In addition, the Villages long term debt has decreased by $786,877 due to scheduled payments of long term debt in both governmental and business-type activities. In fact, the Villages’s legal debt limit is $30,301,048 and they currently have debt of $3,272,147 in the general fund.  The Village is currently reviewing this current debt to see if dollars can be saved by refinancing these loans at lower rates.