Village set to cut costs across the board

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff writer

The Village of Waterford board is expecting, in large part, to be making cuts across the board in the 2012 budget.

Lori Peternell, the village treasurer, outlined a plan at a special meeting of the Committee of the Whole and the Finance Committee Monday at the Village Hall.

For the most part, both revenues and budget requests have dropped.

The general government operations budget for 2012 dropped to $662,097 – down 16.87 percent from 2011 or about $134,350.

There is a decrease in benefits cost because of the state’s budget repair act, as well as the elimination of a part-time deputy clerk/treasurer position, as well as a drop in meeting costs and assessor contract costs.

Peternell expected some cost increases, mainly because of four regular elections and two probable recall elections next year.

Operational revenues, meanwhile, are expected to decrease about 6 percent, from $1.2 million to $1.16 million. That comes from a decrease in shared revenue and transportation aid, as well as the elimination of the school resource officer at the Waterford schools.

That position is both a loss in revenue and costs because the position was paid partly by the village and partly by the schools. The village is the fiscal agent, however, for the position.

Now, the officer on duty will handle the calls. Whether that will work out to a cost decrease remains to be seen.

The board talked at length about library funding as well, as the library tries to keep its funding steady so as not to cause issues with funding from Racine County.

The operations expenditures at the library are expected to drop, as there will be decreases in wages and benefits, as well in technology consulting costs, telephone, postage and supply costs.

The board also briefly discussed the $40 per meeting pay that board members receive. There was some discussion about possibly raising the amount paid per meeting, but any discussion was pushed back to a later date.

Discussion on fire and rescue and Department of Public Works costs will be discussed at 5 p.m. Monday next week at the Village Hall.