Montgomery Village adopts spending plan

By Connor Linskey
Posted 4/14/21

At their meeting last Tuesday, the Montgomery Village Board unanimously adopted the village’s budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. The fiscal year runs from June 1, 2021-May 31, 2022.

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Montgomery Village adopts spending plan

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At their meeting last Tuesday, the Montgomery Village Board unanimously adopted the village’s budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. The fiscal year runs from June 1, 2021-May 31, 2022.

Michael Hembury, a trustee in the Village of Montgomery, is pleased with how the budget turned out.

“I think it’s good. I think we get a good bang for our buck here,” he said regarding the budget. “It stayed below the cap and I’m happy with it.”

The total budget is down slightly from the current fiscal year. In the adopted budget for this year, the total of all funds is $5,844,203 while the upcoming year’s total is $5,791,713. Next year’s general fund and water funds will see decreases of approximately $39,000 and $13,000 respectively.

The tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year will see a slight uptick from $16.071 to $16.453. The real estate tax levy will increase approximately $90,000.

Next year, salaries for town board members will look largely the same. Mayor Stephen Brescia will earn $18,355, which is a pay raise of $1,000 from the current fiscal year. The budget for the three trustees is $40,261, up from $39,061 this year. The three trustees will each earn $9,711 and the deputy mayor will make $11,128. This equates to a salary increase of $300. Village Justice Tina Fassnacht will earn a salary of $18,130, which is unchanged from this fiscal year. David Griffith, treasurer for the village, will see a slight pay decrease in his earnings next year. Employee benefits remain nearly the same as this year, with only a $300 decrease in total funding.

In next year’s budget, the funds for legal counsel and traffic court remain the same. The funding for liability insurance is up nearly $5,000, from $97,000 to $101,850.

The budget for the police department is up approximately $15,000 from this year’s approved budget. Funding for overtime, personal services, crossing guards, insurance and equipment repairs will all see increases while the budget for equipment will decrease about $12,000.

Bruce Yancewicz, Sr., the Village of Montgomery building inspector, will earn $32,800, which is a raise of about $650 from this year’s adopted budget. The funding for safety inspection equipment remains $1,000.

Total appropriations for the street department in next year’s adopted budget are down approximately $16,000. However, Ralph “Buddy” Nelson, Department of Public Works superintendent, will make a little over $2,000 more than he did this year. The figures for equipment, supplies, utilities as well as oil, gravel and blacktop are the same as this year’s adopted budget.

Funding for snow removal, street lighting and sidewalk maintenance remain unchanged in the approved budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Meanwhile, the parks and recreation budget will improve by about $3,000 due to increases in the lines for personal service/parks and overtime.

One figure that stood out in the upcoming budget is the youth program funding, which is down more than $35,000. This is due in large part to a dip in the budget for the staff. Another figure that will see a decrease in funding is the program for the aged. Total funding for the upcoming year’s adopted budget is $29,439 whereas this year’s figure was $58,877.

The estimated revenues other than real property taxes to be levied is down about $80,000 from the current fiscal year. The other culture and summer recreation line is down approximately $40,000 from this year and the budget for fines and forfeited bail is down $20,000.

In addition, the money for the water fund is down about $13,000 from this year’s approved budget. The grand total for the sewer fund remains largely unchanged as $541,246 was budgeted for this year and $540,500 is budgeted for next year.

During the public hearing for the budget last Tuesday, Village of Montgomery residents expressed concerns.

“The Village of Montgomery budget was adopted last night even with concerns from residents,” said Don Berger, one of the founders of the citizens group Residents Protecting Montgomery. “A number of suggestions were brought to the attention of the village board to keep the tax levy down. When asked what the tax cap number was, the accountant had no response. I along with the village treasurer responded to 1.01 percent. When asked if the village was under the tax cap (as they claimed), the village board responded yes but no tax levy was given. This is a problem… My math suggests that the village is over the tax cap with a tax levy of 2.36 percent.”