Fox River Grove eliminates village debt

The village of Fox River Grove eliminated its outstanding debt earlier this month at a board meeting, a move the village said will give them about $280,000 in net interest savings over the next 10 years.

The total outstanding debt had been $3,262,746.25, with $2.615 million coming from the recently constructed Public Works Facility at the corner of Lincoln and Hillcrest, and $648,000 for a 2010 road resurfacing project. According to data on the Illinois Comptroller’s website, 245 of the 246 communities have some form of debt in fiscal 2018.

Village Administrator Derek Soderholm said the $280,000 the village will save will result in an “improved bottom line.”

“We will save that over the period and we will be much better off,” Soderholm said.

To get to its “debt-free” status, the village used various cost-savings opportunities, which included reducing staffing levels, turning to the private sector when needed, or applying technology to achieve those efficiencies. These operational cost savings will continue to save Fox River Grove an estimated $600,000 annually in future years, the village said.

In 2009, the village was at 30 full-time employees. Now, it’s at 22, meaning over a 10-year period they lost a total of eight employees.

Soderholm said nobody lost their jobs in this; instead, these positions were eliminated through attrition. He doesn’t expect the number of employees will go down again soon, if at all.

“We’re at a good place in terms of overall headcount,” Soderholm said.

Fox River Grove currently has $4 million in its budget for operating funds, and currently has a forecast of all its capital needs and projects for the next 10 years.

These projects includes the resurfacing of portions of certain streets.

Some of the ones scheduled for resurfacing in 2020 include Asbury Road, Lexington Avenue, Old Hunt Road, Excy Drive, Gardner Road and Lucille Road.

Soderholm said the village at this time doesn’t anticipate having to borrow money to pay for these capital projects.

“We are now proud to say that we’ve finally become a debt free village,” Village President Nunamaker said. “This was made possible by the accumulation of operational cost savings over the past several years and fiscally responsible decision making by the Village Board.”