by Bea Peterson
Newly elected Mayor Matt Monahan believes working on his first Village budget has aged him five years. “When we started the process there was a 16.7 percent increase,” he said. “We got it down to 7.8 percent by making cuts and using $40,000 from the fund balance. I would have preferred it to be 4 percent or less, but it wasn’t possible. I feel bad about the increase.”
Water and sewer rates will also increase. To minimize the increases $25,000 was taken from the fund balance for water and $20,500 for sewer. The Mayor said, “We have done everything we can without cutting services.” He said there are no new vehicles and no upgrades for the Highway Department and “a $90,000 street sweeper is not an option.” He said they will be looking at and pursuing shared services. The Village garage, the Mayor said needs a new roof at a cost of $100,000. That will not happen. Also eliminated from the budget was $12,000 for a wood chipper and $15,000 for a bucket truck. “We will have to replace street lights using a backhoe or ask the Fire Department to help us,” said the Mayor.
One positive helpful change was in CHIPS funding. The Village anticipated that it would be reduced to $42,000, but, as a result of stimulus money, it will remain at $92,000.
The 2009/2010 budget is effective May 1 and includes a three percent increase for Village employees. Salaries for the Mayor, $11,000, and Board members, $4,000 each, Deputy Mayor, $5,000, are unchanged. The Board will continue to apply for grants to offset costs.
A copy of the budget is on file in the Clerk’s office for anyone interested in inspecting it.
Full Time Officer
In addition to approving the budget, the Board approved a motion to appoint John Sotile as a temporary full time police officer, without benefits, to fill Ryan Ashe’s position during his nine month deployment with the military. The Mayor said he is one of the Village’s best part time officers.