Village board mulls budget fixes. (McFarland Thistle, 9/21/2011)
Excerpt: With plans to already push the tax levy as far as allowed under law, the McFarland Village Board faces a $90,000 budget hole as it looks to sew together a 2012 budget.
At the board’s Sept. 12 meeting, Village Administrator Don Peterson looked for some direction from the board to finish out a draft budget.
Ultimately, the board directed Peterson to craft the budget with the deficit. The board will then look for ways to eliminate the hole before seeking public approval of the plan.
Peterson asked for ideas, including either revenue increases, service cuts or a combination of the two, to close the gap. He had hoped to identify any potential service cuts before the board’s planned Sept. 29 meeting.
Peterson said when the board began to map out of the budget earlier in the summer they had scheduled that meeting for public reaction to the budget, but by not putting out options at this point that wouldn’t be possible.
Trustee Brian Utter thought it was difficult to make those decisions without any data in front of him. However, President Mike Harried said the board could use the current budget to help find savings. Peterson said the village has been operating on a cost-to-continue basis for the past few years, so the 2012 budget won’t be significantly different than recent years.
At some point the board needs to just get past philosophical differences, Trustee Erik Thoresen said.
“We need this much money, where is it coming from?” he asked, noting the board can either raise fees or make cuts.
Trustee Aaron Babcock wondered if department heads had considered what they could live without.
“Let’s go there. We keep talking about raising this and raising that,” he said.
Other Wisconsin county and municipal budget news.
Beloit to make deep cuts to police, fire departments. (9/22/2011)
Wisconsin Rapids 2012 budget process underway. (9/22/2011)
Oshkosh 2012 budget deficit projected to balloon to as much as $2.3 million. (9/20/2011)
Facing $2.5 million shortfall, La Crosse considers a variety of fees. (9/14/2011)
100 show up at Dodgeville budget hearing. (9/12/2011)
Zero percent increase for Prairie du Sac department budgets. (9/7/2011)
City of Ashland looks at projected shortfall of $329,000 in 2012 budget. (8/26/2011)
Dodgeville city council to hold listening session on 2012 budget. (8/26/2011)
Shawano budget deficit at $504,800. (8/25/2011)
City of Ripon facing $110,000 budget deficit for 2012. (8/25/2011)
Long list of cuts on table for Racine city services. (8/25/2011)
Dodge County Administrator: "Governor Walker does not speak for Dodge County". (8/25/2011)
Longevity bonuses in Portage might become a thing of the past. (8/24/2011)
Declining property values pose a challenge to Columbus budget development. (8/24/2011)
Whitewater council looks at 0% tax levy increase. (8/24/2011)
Janesville residents asked to make tough choices in online budget scorecard. (8/24/2011)
Village of Darien officials ask for input on 2012 budget. (8/24/2011)
City of Marshfield has some wiggle room in its 2012 budget development. (8/24/2011)
Soglin on 2012 Madison budget: "Every service we rely on is vulnerable". (8/23/2011)
With a ballooning budget deficit, Marathon County considers a tax increase. (8/23/2011)
Sheboygan's Strategic Fiscal Planning Committee to determine what city will look like. (8/19/2011)
Brown County Exec looks at same tax levy, impact on services to be determined. (8/18/2011)
City of Shawano wrestles with $128,000 deficit. (8/16/2011)
Possible double whammy for Shawano City-County Library. (8/15/2011)
Portage County Executive looks to "create a bridge to a new design, a way of functioning on less".. (8/15/2011)
Antigo cuts fire, police positions. (8/15/2011)
Adding up the budget numbers in the Fox Valley. (8/14/2011)
Sauk County officials ask for input. (8/12/2011
Marathon County ranks services to address $500,000 budget shortfall. (8/12/2011)
City of Beloit faces a challenging budget process. (8/8/2011)
Fond du Lac city manager sez Governor's tools not enough to offset cuts. (8/2/2011)
Manitowoc mayor asks department heads for 10% budget cuts. (8/2/2011)
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