The Orland Park board of trustees voted 5-2 Monday night to approve its fiscal year 2026 budget that includes additional spending on public safety and park and infrastructure improvements throughout the village.
The $236 million spending plan includes a $21 million tax levy, which is the total amount of money the village needs to raise from property taxes to help fund its annual budget and provide public services.
Mayor Jim Dodge said the balanced budget reflects “our commitment to our residents in numerous areas, especially in public safety and infrastructure.”
He cited the board’s recent decision to hire eight new police officers who will help in the department’s transition to 12-hour shifts at the beginning of the new year.
The change is meant to provide officers with a better work/life balance as they will work five days one week and the following week they would work two days.
“The village is growing and, along with that, the town’s value has grown and we need more employees to assist with the growing demands being placed on the village,” Dodge said. “One of those demands is for more police presence in the village.
“But we also want to enhance our services for seniors and veterans,” he said.
Dodge touched on four major areas of interest moving forward: Public safety; assessing the village’s operating efficiencies; revisiting the village’s capital improvement plan and continuing to make Orland Park “the go-to place” by carefully deciding how to develop the 2,000 acres still undeveloped.
Trustee John Lawler said improving village services comes with a cost. “Better policing, a better website, improved parks and roads all come at a cost,” he said. “Hiring additional people comes at a cost. We’re going to be looking at the results.”
Trustee Cynthia Nelson-Katsenes cast one of the dissenting votes saying: “We don’t have a revenue problem in Orland Park, we have an expense problem.”