For years, south suburban Robbins has struggled to pay its bills, remain economically viable and pass a balanced budget.
For years, south suburban Robbins has struggled to pay its bills, remain economically viable and pass a balanced budget.
Unlike most municipalities in Cook County, which operate with a budget, the Village of Robbins has a different approach to running a local government.
“Here in Robbins, we are operating by faith. I can’t remember the last time we had a budget,” Robbins Mayor Irene Brodie told the Defender. “If we ever get a steady flow of money, we can then set a budget.”
Robbins seems to be alone when it comes to this unique managerial style. Other south suburbs have allocated funds to pay their bills.
The nearby Village of Alsip is operating off the $35 million it appropriated for fiscal year 2009. Another neighboring town, the Village of Blue Island, appropriated $34 million for fiscal year 2008, which recently ended. A couple of miles east of Robbins, the Village of Calumet Park operates on a $9 million budget.
“I can’t believe Mayor Brodie has been able to run Robbins all these years without any kind of budget or appropriation of funds,” said Thomas Griffin, director of village services for Calumet Park.
The Illinois Municipal Budget Act states, in part, “the governing body of each municipality of this state, coming within the provisions of this Act, shall, within or before the first quarter of each fiscal year, adopt a combined annual budget.”
However, Robbins may be exempt from the budget law since it has a population under 500,000.
At press time, the Illinois Attorney General’s office was trying to determine if Robbins was in violation of state law.
Still, Brodie’s logic on how to run the town of 6,635 has been going on for years, said Willie Carter, a Robbins trustee who chairs the village’s finance committee.
“While we should have a budget even if we have no income, we have had no choice but to operate without one over the years because we’re counting pennies,” Carter said. “I don’t like it, but I agree with the mayor that we cannot set a budget until we can identify new revenue streams.”
Carter, who has been a trustee since 1983, was re-elected in February, along with Robbins’ other five trustees, to a new four-year term. Trustees earn $4,000 a year.
Elected officials, whose district includes Robbins, said the village should first put together a budget so that it has something to work from.
State Sens. James Meeks, D-15th and Emil Jones III, D-14th, and state Reps. William Davis, D-30th, and Robert Rita, D-28th, represent Robbins.
Meeks said every city needs a budget, and even a bad budget is better than no budget at all.
“For Robbins and other communities like it, I think we need to move to creating as many TIF (tax incrementing finances) districts as possible,” he said. “The state needs to provide more resources for federal matching grants. Robbins is not able to access federal grant programs because they don’t have available funds.”
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