Village Board Eyes 2012-13 Budget

The Village Board described its budget proposal for the 2012-13 year as “reflective” of the current year.

In fact, the board is only projecting a 0.4 percent increase in the general expenditures fund.

“We’ve made changes to save money on printing costs, phone bills, anywhere we can,” Finance Director Mike Horton said. “The budget has been pretty static.”

Revenue projections, however, are starting to fall flat.

“It’s going to start to plateau now until we see more growth,” Horton said. “New homes will increase sales tax revenue a bit, but nothing dramatic. No $250,000 increase like we’ve seen in past years.”

Sales tax revenue went from $4.9 million to $5 million, projected for about a 1 percent increase for the 2012-13 budget. “Everything is just on a plateau right now,” said Horton. The projected increase from last year to this year (2011-12) was 1.3 percent.

Interestingly enough, Horton said tax revenue is trending to increase in coming year. The village is also headed in the right direction for its debt service payments. Horton joked that if every resident could give the village a little more than $1,000, the town would be debt-free.

Some items that were discussed to lower the budget included the village newsletter and the snow removal and salt trucks. The newsletter is published four times a year. Trustee Jeff Lawson said he believed there is value in having a paper copy, but wondered whether it could be reduced in frequency or turned into an electronic newsletter.

Trustee Gail Johnson thought it was a good idea, but said now is not the right time, as there needs to be a transition between the two letters. “Maybe we could start a monthly e-newsletter and see how that goes,” she suggested.

This year was also a mild winter and $38,000 was budgeted for it. The board debated on the cost and effective use of the salt trucks and snow plows in case of a heavier winter.

There has only been a 1.2 percent salary increase, although Trustee Jeff Lawson said he’d also be in favor of a hiring freeze to keep that number down.

Proposed budget additions from village departments included, in order of priority: radio repeaters, a single-axle five-yard dump truck, the position of community relations/grant writer, an internship program—which Village President Brian Leclerq fully supported—three squad cars and one detective squad car, for a total of $339,132.

The board also wanted to include a back-up generator for the Village Hall as it is listed as an Emergency Operations Center. The generator would be about $25,000 but they did not want to put it in front of any other department’s request.

The board discussed the internship program and made a decision to support the program but to remove the $20,000 cost associated with it. Village Trustee Terry Michels said the point is to gain real-life experience.

Village Trustee Tony Giles said he participated in several internships over the years and his were all unpaid. He did it for the experience, not the pay.

The board also discussed applying for various grants to bring money into the village to help fill positions with a low cost to the village, with the addition of the grant writer.

Oswego was recently given a grant of $902,000 for roadwork, which is being used to rework parts of Minkler and Wolfs Crossing.

Also discussed at the meeting was the introduction of WaterSense to Oswego. Presented by Northwest Water Planning Alliance TAC Chairman Peter Wallers, the program is designed to help save water.

After discussing how water supply is limited—there is a cap by the Supreme Court on how much water can be withdrawn from Lake Michigan—WaterSense aims to help families to save money on their water bill and save water in general. Products, like toilets and sinks, are marked with the WaterSense sticker—like EnergyStar—and will save 20 percent more water than their counterparts.

“If one in 10 homes installed WaterSense labeled fixtures, it’s saving 120 billion gallons per year,” said Wallers. “It’s a great way to save water without changing your habits.”