 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
October 6, 2005
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
October 6, 2005 |
|||||
 |
|
EDITORIAL New finance plan will set direction of Village budgeting The finance plan Village Council approved last week will provide helpful direction to future Councils that will have the responsibility of fulfilling the plan’s goals. The plan also acts like the points on a compass for local residents, helping them understand the challenges the Village government is facing and what paths Councils may take to confront those challenges. What’s driving the focus on budget planning are projections from Village administrators of flat revenues and increasing costs, along with a mountain of capital improvement projects. For instance, anyone who drives around Yellow Springs understands the sorry state of the village’s streets, many of which are long overdue for repairs. But stagnant revenues have forced the Village to delay many projects. The five-year finance plan lays out orderly, and ambitious, goals for Council members to pursue as they approach budgeting. It says that the Village will deliver the “current range of services at the quality the community expects,” implying that few cuts will be made to services (except, possibly, police dispatching, which is mentioned in the plan as a service Council should review). The plan calls for Council to create utility rate structures that not only support daily operations but also provide funds to pay for capital improvements. And it says that Council should implement the Village’s capital improvement plan and build the year-end reserves of the Village’s four main budget funds (general, electric, water and sewer) to 25 percent of operating costs. Accomplishing these last two goals requires additional money. That’s one reason the part of the plan that is likely to get the most attention is its call for emphasizing population and job growth, before tax increases and utility rate hikes, as the “principle means of increasing revenue.” The state of the Village budget is such that Council members have acknowledged that they will likely have to raise some taxes and utility rates and borrow money to pay for projects. In the finance plan, Council members also said they would seek new revenue sources, such as providing high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses. Council could lessen some pressure to generate additional money by revising its goal for each of the major budget funds to end the year with a balance of 25 percent of daily operations. Following the advice of former Village Manager Rob Hillard, who said while he was here that 8 to 12 percent annual reserves were sufficient, would free up more money for the Village to spend on capital projects. Otherwise, Council’s finance plan sets out a good strategy to complete some much-needed capital projects and to help the Village pay for day-to-day services. The key will be the tactics Council uses to accomplish the goals in the plan, as well as efforts Council members can initiate to engage in a dialogue about the community about the finance plan. The more interest Council can generate in the plan and the Village budget, the better local residents and business owners will understand today the proposals Council will undertake in the future.
|
|
