The Willison Park Village Board approved a 2012 budget of $5,257,792, representing a 2.25 percent year-to-year increase, at a board meeting on Monday night.
The $115,891 budget increase will prompt a 4 percent increase in the tax levy, translating to an increase of $27.73 per $100 of assessed valuation.
“We tried to go as low as we could. It’s a tight budget,” Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said. “We’re comfortable with the 4 percent.”
Health care coverage and pension costs not under the village board’s control accounted for the most of the year-to-year increase and made the budget process a difficult one, according to Ehrbar.
“Mandated costs were a driving factor,” Ehrbar said.
Budget cuts included a reduction of $35,978 in contractual services in the clerk treasurer’s office, $15,000 from a collection agency previously retained by the village and $10,000 in general insurance coverage.
The village is discontinuing the services of a company it had retained to collect fees on late traffic tickets. The court clerk will handle that, referring late unpaid traffic tickets to an agency which will keep one-third of the fees, according to Ehrbar.
The tentative budget drafted last month set a slightly higher level of appropriations at $5,276,792, and carried a 4.93 percent tax levy increase, but the board made slight adjustments to the final version.
“We made minor change in certain areas,” Ehrbar said.
The Williston Park fire department secured a $56,580 federal grant for training, which was originally applied to next year’s budget. Approximately half of that grant is included in next year’s final budget since the fire department will not receive the funds all at once.
Ehrbar said the village board is also starting a long-term plan to purchase new sanitation equipment to replace its aging fleet of garbage trucks and decided to start selling some of its surplus equipment.
In other action, the village board approved installation of several Cingular/AT&T cellular antennas in an elnclosure on the the roof of 600 Willis Avenue.
Ehrbar said the village is playing catch-up on the annuity payments for Williston Park firefighters with 20 years of active service because the annuity – originally projected to reach a 7 percent interest rate – has underperformed.
Ehrbar said the budget for a chief enforcement offices and a code enforcer increased from $87,500 to $96,900 in next year’s budget, and one enforcement position will be eliminated.
Solid waste disposal costs are projected to decline by $100,000 next year to $350,000. A 5.39 percent increase of $48,982 in home and community expenditures represent an increase in sanitation salaries.
The village’s debt service is projected to decrease 23.7 percent to $327,978.
