However, upon hearing the municipality had a fund balance in the neighborhood of $1.4 million (around 40 percent of the proposed 2017-18 budget), trustees asked Walker on April 3 to prepare a budget with no tax increase.
At $7.46, the extra $14,000 would’ve put the total amount to be raised by tax levy at $1,085,625.
Each year, one of the village’s biggest budget expenses is the Department of Public Works.
"We had forecasted a fairly significant appropriated fund balance last year (more than $165,000), and we ended up on the plus side," Walker said.
Deputy Mayor Bruce Sutherland said, "We’ve had a couple of mild winters, and that’s afforded us the opportunity to increase our fund balance.
… And be able to keep the taxes where they are."
Additionally, the property’s middle building has a sign stating asbestos-containing materials will be removed from April 17 until May 31.
And then there’s a lot of work to do to start grading out the area and removing some of the piles of materials that have been dumped on the site over the years.
"So, we want to get a good, clear look at what does the ground look like, before we start going through and doing sampling in the areas that they’ve already identified as needing to be remediated.
Emergency Management and Response Plan At the Village Board’s April 3 meeting, Sutherland provided an update on the village’s emergency management plan.