Brandon Twp.- More budget cuts are in store for the township.
At their Aug. 3 meeting, the township board approved, by a 5-0 vote, a motion to have the budget committee recommend an additional $71,000 in cuts to the township’s annual expenditures. Trustees Tom Stowell and Bob DeWitt were absent.
DeWitt was also named to the budget committee, replacing Treasurer Terry Beltramo, who wants to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest as an elected official.
‘We should make $71,000 more in cuts in order to account for the loss we are expecting in future years,? said Supervisor Kathy Thurman. ‘These cuts will not necessarily be immediate, because it is too difficult to plan for budget cuts that take immediate effect when the budget for 2009 is already in place.?
At the board’s direction last December, the budget committee began examining ways to cut $150,000 from the budget. They ultimately approved moves including the restructuring of staff and reductions in department expenditures. The key component to saving money, a possible change in healthcare, is still being studied.
Beltramo warned the board last month that he expected a larger deficit in revenue for 2009 than was originally anticipated. He estimated the deficit could be as much as $500,000.
‘If we cut $71,000, we have to look at non-mandated items and the numbers are worse than what you have,? Beltramo said Monday.
Thurman made the additional recommended cuts based on a loss of $77,104 in revenue including $10,000 less in building permits, $17,771 less in statutory sales tax, $28,778 less in constitutional sales tax, $56,000 less in interest, and $500 less in the wages former Building Director Tim Palulian earned as the ordinance enforcement officer for the Village of Ortonville. While this is actually $113,049 less, the township expects $35,945 more in tax collection than anticipated.
Thurman is also expecting additional expenditures? including a roof repair and septic tank replacement for the township offices.
Thurman is anticipating having approximately $158,635.75 in the carry forward fund balance at the end of the 2009 fiscal year, significantly less than the $400,000 fund balance (20 percent of the budget total) that is recommended.
‘A lot of the budget cuts will take effect in 2010,? Thurman said. ‘We referred the budget cuts to the committee to see what those cuts are. We’ll have to see what they report in September.?