Tinley Park looks to shelve COVID-19 constraints

Proposed budget focuses on ‘light at the end of the tunnel’

After back-to-back budgets affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tinley Park officials see “a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel” as they map out a spending plan for fiscal year 2023, which starts May 1.

Revenues are already bouncing back as the economy has reopened, and sources of revenue such as sales taxes and taxes on tickets sold at the village’s outdoor music theater, the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, are expected to improve.

A public hearing on the budget, reviewed Tuesday by trustees, will be held next month, with adoption expected in April.

Revenues in the general fund, which funds most village operations, had been estimated at $55 million for this fiscal year, but are expected to come in at nearly $70 million, according to the village.

Spending was pegged at $59.1 million, as the village kept a lid on costs the past two years as revenues were down because of the pandemic.

Costs in the new budget year are expected to hew fairly close to the fiscal 2022 budget, as department heads have been asked to keep spending requests in line, said Hannah Lipman, assistant village manager.

Lipman said that despite inflation and other global economic issues, Tinley Park is operating at a healthy level.

“It does finally feel as though there is a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel coming out of COVID and whatnot,” Lipman told the board.

Property tax revenue for the new fiscal year is expected to be $19.3 million compared with $18.4 million this year, while sales tax are expected to bring in $26.6 million compared with $26 million in this year.

Last year, when pandemic restrictions on businesses were still affecting revenue, the village anticipated $19.2 million in sales tax revenue this year.

While not a major source of revenue for Tinley Park, money collected from taxes on ticket sales for the 28,000-seat Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre are expected to almost double this year.

The village last year didn’t allocate any revenue from that source due to the pandemic’s limits on gatherings of large crowds, but the venue did host 17 concerts during an abbreviated season.

This year could be the biggest season in the amphitheater’s 33-year history as far as numbers of concerts and attendees, according to the village. Tinley Park levies a 5% tax on ticket sales.

Tinley Park did see ticket tax revenue this year of just under $667,000. For the fiscal year 2021 budget, approved about a month before the state’s pandemic shutdowns, the village had anticipated about $1 million from the tax, but only took in $540.

The village is estimating revenue this year of $1.2 million, on par with what was gener

ated in the last pre-COVID concert season.

Tinley Park also levies a 7% hotel/motel tax on room rentals, which was expected to bring in $970,000 this year as travelers curtailed room rentals during the pandemic.

The actual number is projected to be a little more than $2 million, while the village anticipates revenue in the new budget year from that tax of $1.8 million. The village has 10 hotels totaling more than 1,100 rooms.

Revenue from taxes on fuel sales is expected to be flat in the coming year, at about $1.3 million. Money from the tax helps to pay for street repairs.

While gasoline prices have been steadily rising, the gas tax isn’t affected because it’s assessed at a per-gallon rate. When fuel prices rise, it can result in declining tax revenues as drivers cut back on driving.

A big increase in spending will be for police department, which spent $17 million this fiscal year but will get $20 million in the new budget.

That includes a little more than $1 million being allocated for police services related to concerts at the outdoor theater, a budget line item that was negligible in the this year due to the shortened season.

Capital spending is proposed at $15.8 million, which includes $8.2 million being carried over from the current budget.

Spending proposals including replacing more than a dozen police vehicles and installing new in-car cameras in some police vehicles, as well as $185,000 for a trolley. Tinley Park wants to establish a trolley service to help bring visitors from hotels to events in the village.