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News
Audit: School district top Oswego employer : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisAudit: School district top Oswego employer
| Wal-Mart, Jewel Osco, Meijer also make list in annual budget report
| by John Etheredge
| 10/18/2012
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Question: what does the Oswego School District, Wal-Mart, Jewel/Osco and Meijer Corporation all have in common?
Answer: they are among the largest employers in the Village of Oswego.
Topping the list of principal employers in the village's annual budget audit is the school district with an estimated 1,631 employees, followed by Wal-Mart with 450, Jewel Osco with 425; and Meijer Corporation 425.
Dominick's Fresh Foods, Inc., Target Corporation and Home Depot all employ an estimated 250 people each, followed by Kohl's at 225, according to the audit.
The employment figures are as of April 30, the audit notes.
Compiled by the Sikich accounting firm of Naperville, the audit was presented to the village board during a meeting Tuesday evening.
Evidence of the school district's unprecedented growth over the past decade is also shown in the audit. Based in Oswego, the school district encompasses a 68 square mile area that includes all of the village, along with sections of Montgomery, Aurora, Joliet, Plainfield and Yorkville.
The school district's roster of employees has risen over the past nine years as enrollment has surged. Back in August of 2003 the school district opened the school year with approximately 9,640 students and, at that time, the district reported having just over 900 employees. As of this fall, enrollment in the district has increased to more than 17,600 students.
Ranked second on the 2003 list of principal employers in the village was Home Depot USA with an estimated 250 workers, followed by Jewel Osco at 245 and Radiac Abrasives at 200, according to the audit.
Wal-Mart and Meijer Corporation were not listed on the 2003 list of the village's principal employers since the two retailers did not open their local stores until after that time.
The audit also shows the village now employs 111 people including seasonal positions, down from a peak of 134 in 2008.
Back in 2003, when the village was significantly smaller in both population and geographic size the audit shows that it employed 77.5 people, including seasonal employees.
Almost half of the village's total current employees work for the police department, 62.5. Of those 62.5 police employees, 49 are officers and 13.5 are classified as civilians.
The public works department currently has 23.50 employees, down from a high of 33 in 2008.
Also currently on the village's staff are six finance department employees and seven in the building and zoning department.
The audit also shows the village added one full-time and a part-time employee to work in community relations and one full-time employee to work as the village economic development director. (The village created an economic development department last year after the board voted to end its participation in the Oswego Economic Development Corporation (OEDC). The OEDC, which was operated on annual member dues paid by the village, other government agencies and local businesses, subsequently shut down its operations.
The number of employees classified as working in administration for the village has been cut from a peak of 8.5 in 2007 and 2008 to 3.5 this year, according to the audit.
The audit also shows:
_Village police arrested 1,174 individuals during the fiscal year that ended April 30, almost twice the 677 arrests made by the department in 2004.
_Calls for police service during the fiscal year that ended April 30 totaled 22,607, up nine percent from the 20,629 reported in 2004.
_Though the village's public works department has shrunk over the past nine years, the number of miles of streets in the village nearly doubled from 80 total miles in 2003 to 148 this year.
_Unemployment in the village stood at seven percent in 2003, fell to 3.8 percent in 2007, but climbed to 8.7 percent last year. Unemployment in the village as of April 30 is listed at eight percent.
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