Tuesday, November 26, 2024 | View in browser
Dear Community Members,
Last night, the City Council adopted Evanston’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025, a responsible budget that moves Evanston forward without increasing property taxes. This year’s budget process was the most transparent and inclusive one we've had, resulting in an outcome that reflects our community's needs and priorities.
At the onset of 2024, staff met with all Councilmembers to gauge budgetary priorities. In May, the outcome of these discussions was presented at a Council meeting, and the top priorities identified were: sustainability, affordable housing, spending restraint, and strategic capital investments.
I’m pleased that we are delivering on these priorities:
- Leveraging a variety of outside funding sources, we continue to make progress on our Climate Resilience and Action Plan (CARP) by developing building performance standards that reduce building emissions, installing charging stations at three City facilities, and expanding the local Divvy network.
- We are moving toward the adoption of a Strategic Housing Plan and the Envision Evanston 2045 reforms that together will position us to make transformational progress on housing affordability.
- The total budget achieves a reduction of $16.8 million in total expenses for 2025 compared to 2024; non-personnel General Fund operating expenses were held to an increase of just 0.1%.
- We will ramp up lead service line replacement in compliance with State and Federal guidelines and continue the vital water intake replacement project.
Here are some additional highlights:
- We will fund the first full year of the Crisis Alternative Response Evanston (CARE) team to continue our investment in a non-police response to certain low-risk service calls, directing the most appropriate resources to residents experiencing challenges and freeing up police to address the issues where they’re most needed.
- The second year of our historic Community Benefits Agreement with Northwestern provides millions of dollars to Evanston, including funding earmarked for affordable housing and sustainability, and resources that will be used to avoid tax increases.
- We will continue the implementation of the Evanston Thrives Retail District Action Plan, advancing economic development by improving the quality and mix of retail, food, and entertainment offerings across our nine business districts.
- We make a far larger payment into police and fire pension funds than required by the State, continuing the stabilization of our public safety retirement systems.
Finally, the FY2025 budget represents the fourth consecutive year the City’s portion of the property tax levy has been held flat – this is in spite of continued inflationary pressures on expenses. In addition to the tools already described, Council is making adjustments to various permitting and licensing fees to close the budget gap.
I’m pleased with the positive steps that this budget takes. We still have plenty of challenges, with more tough choices and critical decisions awaiting us in the years ahead, but I’m confident that if we maintain clarity about our priorities and transparency in our decision-making process, we can continue to arrive at outcomes that represent our community’s values and lay the groundwork for a thriving future.
Sincerely,
Daniel Biss
Mayor, City of Evanston
dbiss@cityofevanston.org
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