Aldermen Training, K-9, Ash Borer Plan Make First Round of Budget Talks

Round two of Darien’s fiscal year 2013 budget talks starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. 

The Administrative/Finance Committee of the Whole held its first budget meeting of the season last Wednesday to discuss the draft budget that includes roughly $10.9 million in expenditures. 

The city estimates it will bring in about $12.6 million in revenues during 2013, down about 3.5 percent from its projected fiscal year 2012 income.

Items the committee discussed last week include:

$1,000 for City Council training: Darien did away with a small budget allotted toward training elected officials a few years ago, but on Wednesday the committee agreed to add some money back in for 2013.

Treasurer Michael Coren said he couldn’t see spending taxpayer money on classes and seminars for elected officials. Ward 2 Alderman John Poteraske said it made more sense for aldermen to pay for training with their own money.

Both Ward 7 Alderman Halil Avci and City Clerk JoAnne Ragona said they felt the benefits would be worth the cost.

“Training is important for everyone, not just staff,” Ward 7 Alderman Halil Avci said. “Better elected officials make better aldermen. I think in the long run a few dollars spent on educating individuals will pay off handsomely in the end.”

Avci, along with Ward 2 Alderman Tina Beilke and Ward 4 Alderman Joerg Seifert, voted to include the training stipend in the budget. Poteraske and Ward 1 Alderman Ted Schauer voted against it. Ward 5 Alderman Joe Marchese and Ward 6 Alderman Sylvia McIvor were absent.

$10,000-12,000 to purchase K-9 dog: The committee agreed that the city should purchase a new K-9 police dog to last fall.

Though the still has one K-9, Chief Ernest Brown said Quanto has only about two years of service left. K-9 officers assist the department with missing person cases and drug seizures, among other incident types.

“With the second dog getting old, we don’t want to reach a point where we have no dog,” Brown said.

The yearly cost of maintaining a dog is about $15,250, which includes food and veterinary bills, as well as overtime pay for the police officer who cares for the dog.

$10,000 for dealing with emerald ash borers: The budget includes $10,000 in case emerald ash borers rear their destructive heads in trees on public land.

“It’s literally a contingency in case we come across the emerald ash borer in those trees we are mandated to remove,” said City Administrator Bryon Vana. It costs about $1,000 to remove a tree infested with the beetle, which has a deadly effect on ash trees.

The took place in June 2011 in the Hinsbrook neighborhood.

Read the entire draft 2013 budget here.