NEW WHITELAND TOWN COUNCIL
AUGUST 2, 2006
2007 PRELIMINARY BUDGET
HEARING
MEETING MINUTES
Town Council President
Fire
Department
No changes were made to the 100’s or
200’s. There was some discussion on the
$500 increase to the Gasoline appropriation.
Clerk-Treasurer Alspach will contact the school and see if they would
consider allowing us to buy our gas through them and use their volume discount.
300’s – Fire Chief Hedrick needs to start
replacing the pagers. Each pager costs
$500. President Perrin recommends
checking into a pager service. The 316
appropriation is reduced by $300 and the Fire Chief will be reimbursed $35 per
month to defray the cost of his personal cell phone bill.
400’s no changes made.
Total reduction - $300.
Parks
Department
Parks Director Facemire presents her 2007
budget. There were no changes made.
Police
Department
Marshal Stephenson states that his 2007
budget includes the new full time officer.
Stephenson adds that they currently cover 51 weeks of paid vacation, 32
weeks earned by the officers and 19 weeks earned by the dispatchers. Stephenson explains the new officer will be a
road officer but will also cover open shifts in dispatch in an emergency.
There are no changes made to the 100’s, 300’s
or 400’s. 223 – Gasoline is increased
$2000. There is concern over running out of money for gasoline this year. Clerk-Treasurer Alspach has estimated the
health insurance costs for the remainder of 2006 and believes we could reduce
181 – Employee Group Insurance by $21,000.
$6,000 would be transferred to 223 for fuel and the other $15,000 would
actually be used to help reduce the 2006 budget.
Total budget increased $2,000.
Properties
Department
PW Supt. Lasiter explains that the current
balances in Contractual Services and Building Materials will hopefully be used
to replace the 3 furnaces at the Police Station form 80% to 94% efficient ones.
Supt. Lasiter discusses his “Alternate”
budget request which includes $30,000 for improvements to the
There are no changes made to the
non-alternate budget.
DLGF provides funding information for this
budget. They have advised that we need
to reduce the proposed 2007 budget by $18,000.
Appropriation 431 – Improvements Other Than Building is reduced to
$22,000.
No other changes are made.
Total reduction - $18,000.
Town Council
Preliminary Budget Hearing
Page Two
August 2, 2006
Water
Utility
There are no changes made.
Sanitation
Utility
Supt. Lasiter explains the 400’s
category. He has budgeted $200,000 for a
new chlorine upgrade to make this a Class A Utility which would eliminate some
of the equipment that they have been experiencing problems with. Would also eliminate need for sludge removal
/ hauling. This would also eliminate
certain IDEM issues.
There are no changes made.
Storm Water
Utility
There are no
changes made.
Plan Commission
316- Contractual
Services is reduced by $440. After some
discussion the town will reimburse the Zoning Administrator $35 per month for
using his personal cell phone rather than paying for a second phone.
Total reduction -
$440.
After some
discussion it is decided that the 2006 budget can be reduced as follows: 311 reduced by $6,000 and 314 reduced by
$1500.
Town Administration
Clerk-Treasurer
Alspach presents a revised budget request that reflects a total reduction of $65,724. Alspach explains that she has kept the salary
for the full time bookkeeper/clerk position but will look for 1 or 2 part time
employees to fill the position. There is
also some discussion on the trash removal costs and consideration to re-bidding
the contract this year to see what the future costs could be.
No additional
changes are made.
Being no other business
the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
____________________________
Maribeth Alspach, Clerk- Treasurer
Approved: _____________________________