Forest Park Commissioner Maria Maxham, the village's top elected finance official, announced she is running for mayor with a pledge to tackle the municipality's more than $15 million deficit.

Maxham, who also serves as village council vice president, told the Forest Park Review, which first reported her candidacy, that her first priority would be building a concrete financial recovery plan. She is the first announced candidate in the April 6, 2027, election, when voters will choose a new mayor and four commissioners.

"Every year we're walking away from the budget process having accomplished nothing," Maxham said.

The deficit is not abstract. Forest Park's approved FY2027 budget projects general fund revenues of about $24.9 million against expenditures of roughly $30.1 million, according to village budget documents. That gap pushes the general fund's ending balance to a negative $5.3 million. Finance Director Letitia Olmsted said at the July 27 budget meeting that the village has lost revenue and has not been able to replace it with new revenue, the Review reported.

Beyond the operating shortfall, Maxham cited the village's police and fire pensions at an April council meeting. Both funds are below 40% funded and carry a combined shortfall she put at $74 million to $87 million. The village's FY2027 appropriation ordinance sets annual pension contributions at $3.6 million for police and nearly $3 million for fire.

Maxham, a former editor of the Forest Park Review, said she has considered a mayoral run for several months. Her candidacy follows a public clash with Mayor Rory Hoskins. At the Sept. 14 council meeting, she accused Hoskins of excluding her from key decisions, including the appointment of a new police chief and a public relations firm contract, the Review reported.

Her proposed recovery plan would identify ways to increase revenue, cut expenses, pursue economic development and advocate for state legislation affecting local finances. During this year's budget meetings, Maxham pushed for a "places of eating" tax to boost village income.

She said the village's finance department is understaffed and she is working with staff to arrange an outside assessment of the department's gaps and needs. Fire Chief Lindsey Hankus already has a departmental plan similar to what Maxham envisions village-wide, she said.

Maxham also pointed to the village-owned Altenheim property, 11 acres the village has held since 2001 without developing, as an example of government moving too slowly. Steve Glinke, head of the village's building department, told the Review he doesn't "have hopes until after the election" for progress on the site.

Candidates must file nomination papers by Oct. 26. Maxham said she plans to collect well above the roughly 30 required signatures, going door-to-door to registered voters to introduce herself.