'Nice-To-Have' Elmhurst Tree Program Chopped Down

Elmhurst IL

20 April, 2021

10:34 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — One Elmhurst alderman called the annual planting of hundreds of trees a "nice-to-have" program. Another disagreed with that terminology. After a debate, the council voted to ax this year's tree program entirely. It was expected to plant 636 trees at a cost of $244,000. Alderman Jim Kennedy, who signed onto a committee proposal to eliminate this year's program, called it "nice to have." "In 2008, we went four years without planting trees because of the economic hardship we were under," Kennedy said. "Thankfully, once things got better, we were able to make that up. So it is my belief that while we won't plant a tree this year, we would make up for that over the subsequent years and get ourselves back whole when it makes sense." Alderman Bob Dunn proposed halving the program, not eliminating it. He said he had heard from a lot of residents opposed to zeroing it out. "I believe that this tree planting program is not a nice to have, but it's a valuable infrastructure investment that we have, much like the water mains we invest in, the sidewalk improvements," Dunn said. He said he understood how a city could double a road program after a year of no projects, but it was more difficult to do that with trees, which need time to grow. Alderwoman Dannee Polomsky said the tree program has an additional benefit of attracting businesses and other amenities to Elmhurst. Alderman Michael Bram agreed with Dunn's proposal, saying it was "the best of both worlds." "We could move forward and don't have that much of a catch-up in subsequent years, but also be conscious of our fiscal responsibility to make sure our budget is in line," he said. Kennedy and aldermen Noel Talluto and Mike Brennan all said the city would have to offset the tree spending elsewhere in the budget. Talluto, the council's finance committee chairwoman, said the city looked for programs that it could reduce or eliminate for the year that would have the least impact on residents. She said tree planting is one of them. "These decisions are all about trade-offs. Do we want trees? We all want trees. What else will be cut then?" she asked. The council voted 7-5 against Dunn's proposal to halve the tree planting program this year. Bram, Polomsky, Dunn, Jacob Hill and Marti Deuter favored the idea, while Kennedy, Talluto, Brennan, Mike Honquest, Scott Levin, Mark Mulliner and Jennifer Veremis opposed it. Brian Cahill and Tina Park were absent. When Dunn's proposal failed, the council voted 11-1 on zeroing out the program, with Bram dissenting. It was unclear why Polomsky, Dunn, Hill and Deuter switched sides. They did not explain.