Months of budget cuts pay off for village residents
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
After months of work and a new process to make creating the nearly $3 million budget for the Village of East Troy a little easier, the board approved the 2015 budget at Monday night’s meeting.
The new process, which had the department heads establishing their budgets earlier than had been done in the past, was a learning experience for the board members and the department heads.
“I liked our process, we took more time and we were better informed this year,” Trustee Ann Zess said.
“I agree,” Village Board President Randy Timms said. “But we need to revisit the process and tweek it a bit, maybe even in December. We spent a lot of time at meetings talking about the budget.”
The budget set forth calls for a 14.5 percent increase in expenditures at $2,924,744 this year, up from $2,554,351 in 2014.
The mill rate dropped to $7.23 for 2015; it was $7.34 last year. The total tax levy rose to $2,228,755 for 2015, an increase of $28,286 from 2014. With the expected increase in property values and the lower mill rate, residents should see little change to their village tax bills.
While the Village Board and department heads worked diligently to keep the budget in check for 2015 with cuts across the board, there were some areas that received extra funding through monies set aside over the years for large projects.
The board voted last month to take about $400,000 out of the fund set aside for street improvements and actually use the money to fix up several roads in East Troy.
At the time, Timms said it was a way to give the taxpayers a real service and since the money was set aside for just that purpose, it was about time they used it.
“The Department of Public Works is going to be very busy next year with all the special projects. There’s a lot of money allotted for that,” Zess said.
There is almost $1.5 million earmarked for special projects in the 2015 budget.
The majority of the budget money goes to public safety, with nearly half, $1.2 million allotted. General government expenses come in next at $642,888. Public works will use $387,700; Health and Human Services, $203,700; recreation and education, $98,010; conservation and development, $38,900; and there is $327,784 allotted for “other financing uses.”
Fifty-three percent of the budget is used to fund the village’s operating expenses; 34 percent go to village employee wages and 13 percent on employee benefits.
Utilities are another large portion on the budget with the water utility budgeted at nearly $1.4 million for 2015 and the sewer utility with a budget of $2.3 million.
“The area’s we struggle with every year are the water and sewer budgets because they have to be self supporting,” Zess said.
Hard copies of Monday night’s budget presentation and the actual budget are available at Village Hall., 2015 Energy Drive.
Community Development Alliance
Walworth County Economic Development Alliance new Executive Director Derek D’Auria updated the board on the progress of the East Troy Community Development Alliance on Monday night.
He told the board that the ETCDA had spent $4,000 to date and the members were working on making contact with area businesses and building relationships.
He said the CDA’s website was finally up and running at www.easttroybusiness.com and they had received positive feedback on it.
“It’s a big piece of what we’ve been doing,” D’Auria said.
He outlined where the ETCDA was headed in the near future and gave examples of some of the things they wanted to accomplish, such as attracting northern Illinois businesses to East Troy.
“”I’ve been a member of the Alliance for five years and this is the year we’re finally moving forward,” Trustee Linda Kaplan said.
Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat in the village and town of East Troy is 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31.
