ELLENVILLE – At last Monday's village board meeting, officials made available the proposed budget for the fiscal year starting June 1, 2009, which runs through May 31, 2010. All told, the general fund's proposed expense budget rose from last year by 1.06 percent, from $3.79 million to $3.83 million. The proposed budget's tax rate will also rise by 10.6 percent, going from $236.91 to $262.03 per $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

"It's not insignificant by any means," says Village Manager Mary Sheeley, who, with Treasurer Linda Polkoski, put together the proposed budget. "Would we like to have reduced it? Absolutely…it's frustrating, I must tell you, because I'm a tax payer as well. It's very frustrating, because with any budget, you need money to operate.

"I think that the budget is pretty lean, to be very honest. If I saw any place else that we could've cut, obviously Linda and I would've done that. But there are no other big ticket items in there that look like they can be cut. I wish there were."

One item that was added to the budget this year was $100,000 for deficit reduction, which will take a bite out of the over $1.1 million general fund deficit the village has accrued over the last few years. Village government leaders sought a referendum to release funds from the $4 million "mountain money" fund to pay off the deficit, but rescinded the resolution when it was realized that the deficit amount exceeded $1.1 million, and that public opinion regarding the referendum was, for the most part, unfavorable.

"That's a big number," says Sheeley, referring to the deficit reduction item, "but we need to start addressing that $1.1 million. It's not going to go away. As you saw over the last five years, it hasn't gone away. We have to start budgeting money to start reducing it."

Expenses might also receive a small reduction before the final budget is passed because, according to Mayor Jeff Kaplan, the village is working with the two unions for municipal workers and the police department to either put a salary freeze on their workers for this year, or to reduce staff. Once those negotiations have been concluded, he says, there will be a reduction in expenses. Sheeley estimates that the result of either cutting staff positions or freezing salaries will translate into a $3 reduction in the tax rate per $1,000 of assessed property value.

The finalized budget must be passed by May 1; copies of the proposed budget are available from the Village Government Center.

COMMENTS about this article (141)