Roscoe announces 2024 budget

The Village of Roscoe will hold their annual public hearing to decide how to spend its money for the year on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2024 at 6:15 p.m. It is scheduled to last only fifteen minutes, since few residents attend. Later, they will take a final vote on their appropriations ordinance at their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.

Estimated General Fund revenues [PDF] are $7,726,629, not including more than $5,176,000 from American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds, a state OSLAD grant, motor fuel taxes, and money the Village has saved up for road projects. Some sources of these projected revenues include:

• Property Taxes 654,632
• Video Game Revenue 515,000
• Cannabis Use Tax 18,000
• Retailer's Occupation Tax 2,055,000
• Local Use Tax 467,000
• State Income Tax 1,845,000
• Corporate Replacement Tax 230,000

Total General Fund expenditures [PDF] for the year are budgeted at $11,155,947. The largest costs are for Public Safety and Public Works.

Other agenda items: hiring Vandewalle & Associates to provide zoning administration and municipal planning services for the Village of Roscoe. A Vandewalle employee would be assigned to serve as Village zoning administrator, similar to the way a Fehr-Graham employee serves as Village engineer for several municipalities.

Trustees are also expected to approve a two-year appointment for Roger Needham to the Police Pension Board. The board meeting will include an annual report from the Police Pension Board.

Afterwards, at their Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2024, Village of Roscoe trustees will again consider a proposed ordinance that will especially affect the annual Chicory Ridge garage sale. The proposed ordinance says that if a neighborhood garage sale includes 25 homes or more, it will no longer be exempt from having to pay the costs of extra police, which can exceed hundreds of dollars. The Village will also charge a $100 fee and require an application 30 days in advance. If roads will be closed, 51 percent of the households located on the properties directly adjacent to the proposed street closure must agree.

The board will also look over the bid specifications for the 2024 Residential Road Repair/Maintenance Improvement Program [PDF]. The Village plans to redo a whole section of streets [PDF]: Promontory Trail,  Hidden Creek Lane, Big Stone Circle, Timber Ridge Road, Ridge Rose Trail, and Deer Crossing.

Links are included in this article. Until now, Rockton-Roscoe News and the general public hasn't had access to documents before Roscoe board members voted on them. Trustee Justin Plock requested this access for us more than a year ago and says, "This marks the beginning of a new system that the Village will adopt going forward, and it will be fully integrated with the Village's new website within the next couple of months." Village of Roscoe meetings are also available on YouTube.

Meanwhile, at the Village of Rockton, trustees are expected to approval a new pay scale for Public Works employees, 2024 pool fees, and special events applications for Old Settlers Days (June 13 – 16 in Settlers Park) and the Memorial Day Parade (Monday, May 27, in Downtown Rockton).

The Village of Rockton says, "Nearby property owners to 12102 Old River Rd. (formerly All Trucks USA) received a public hearing notice for a proposed zoning change to Industrial Light (IL) District for the Old River Rd. parcel and the R2 (two unit residential) District parcel to the rear. The meeting was scheduled for Thursday, March 14. After the Village mailed the updated notices, the applicant formally withdrew their rezoning request. There is no active zoning application for the former All Trucks USA property."