The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Village officials meeting financial obligations
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: July 10, 2008
The village is managing to stay financially solvent and fund many of the projects that the Dexter Village Council has set as priorities over the past year.
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Totalexpenditures for 2008-09 are $3,774,300; or just $5,335 less than what is projected for revenues over the coming fiscal year.
The previous year's expenditures were lower at $3,097,046.
The village is projecting $1,919,635 in real property tax revenue in 2008-09, up from $1,625,563 the previous year.
Other revenues from licenses, grants, fees and other potential sources of income stand at $1,860,000 up from $1,581,104 the previous year.
The unrestricted fund balance, as of this month is $1,920,618: according to village officials.
The increased spending stems from a number of projects.
"Of the larger increases in expenditures, one of them is parks and recreation, where there are several items that the parks commission requested for annual maintenance," said Assistant Village Manager Courtney Nichols. "They requested money for annual planting of flower beds and also for the Mill Park Planning Team for design work on the plan that will be needed (for that project) after the dam removal is completed."
The overall parks and recreation expenses for the new budget are $132,200. The previous year the village spent $39,376. Most of the increase came from $80,000 spend on the Mill Pond Planning Team, whereas last year $6,000 was spent in that regard. The remaineder of that increase can be attributed to rising salary and benefit costs.
"Continued expenses for the dam removal and the bridge project that weren't spent this budget year are also factored in," Nichols said.
According to Nichols, transportation costs in various subsections of the budget have also increased - some of them willingly.
"We increased contributions to WAVE for door-to-door service since we have seen an increase in usage," she said. "We think that it has to do with more seniors learning about the program."
Other increases are being forced on the village by the economy, such as the rising cost of fuel. For example, the village's Department of Public Works spent just $7,935 for gasoline and oil in 2007. In 2004 that expenditure was $4,881. For the 2008-09 budget Village Manger Donna Dettling has proposed $18,000.
Also under the DPW budget, the village will spend $80,000 on sidewalk repair and replacement after the council voted to amend the budget from Dettling's proposed $60,000. The village spent $80,000 for that purpose during the previous fiscal year as well.
"We kept the money to continue the sidewalk repair program that the village has been doing for a few years now," Nichols said. She also mentioned that money has been set aside for design work on Central Street, which will be the village "next large road project."
The village is also starting a preventative road maintenance project. Approximately 20 percent of road millage funds will go towards "pre-maintenance to extend the life of Dexter's roads," according to Nichols.
"I know that the way that the program is looking, right now we have $100,000 (for roads) in this budget ... over three years the amount we will have to spend on maintenance will be cut in half," she said. "We're going to see an improvement in about 3 years."
The state-wide reimagining of how roads are maintained calls for bringing roads that are rated 5, 6 or 7 on the PASER road rating system up to a rating of 8 with the apportioned funds.
The rating goes from 1 to 10, with a 1 representing a failed road and a 10 being a brand new road.
"Roads that are too far along, you just let go until you have the capital money to fix them," Nichols said. "That's the way that the state is spending the money. They really want municipalities to have a plan and we're kind of ahead of the curve on that."
Other expenses that are out of the ordinary and are not tied to staff and fuel costs include the purchase of two generators, which the village received a grant for, for the village's two pump stations. Those stations currently do not have emergency generators and don't have power during outages, according to Nichols.
The village is also working on finding a suitable fifth well site to provide additional water resources to utility customers.
"Projected tax revenues (also) fell slightly from the estimated year end position last year to this year, by $60,000," Nichols said. "It was fairly steady, I'm sure a lot of other communities have much more of a decrease."
The village has also set aside $160,000 to fund benefits for employees that will retire in the future. The fund is for "post-employment benefits."
According to Dettling, the village council also kept the millage rate down this year for residents trying to weather a tough economy.
The overall millage rate is 13.5562, which has remained the same during the 2006 and 2007 tax years. The millage rate has been steadily declining since 2002, when it was 14.4498 mills.
The current millage rate breaks down to 9.8151 operating, .7520 for debt and 2.9891 for streets.
To take a closer look at the budget, go to http://www.villageofdexter.org/Proposed%20FY%2008-09%20budget.pdf.
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