Village 2006 Budget Proposal

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Author Message   jayjay Citizen Username: Jayjayp Post Number: 642 Registered: 6-2005 Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 3:27 pm:        I have been looking through the 2006 municipal budget for the village, and have tons of questions. One glaring question involves the capital program, given the state of the village's infrastructure and buildings. In a spreadsheet entitled "6 Yr Capital Program 2006-2001" the first column is entitled "Project Title". Well, there are no project titles listed. The village lists department titles. So of course, you have no idea what the funds are actually targeted for. A "project" is a project and a "department" is a department. They are not the same. This is transparency? And then there are the dollar amounta listed under the column labeled "2006", and the balance amounts under the column labeled "2011", with no amounts listed in the columns for the other years. Are we spending nothing on capital improvements in years '07-'10? If any of the BOT's read this, can you please provide project titles at the very least? Are we supposed to guess what a $450,000 captial expense for a project entitled "Administration and Executive" is for, or $1,267,000 for Recreation is for, or $4,860,000 for Engineering Services is for? Etc. I urge you all to get a copy of this document at Village Hall. There will be lots more to talk about.   mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 2759 Registered: 4-2002 Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 3:41 pm:        jayjay: Most of the budget meetings were open to the public where a similar question wass asked. Normally I would just answer the question, but in the past you have always come back with a series of new questions, so I suggest you send John Gross, Allan Rosen (as chair of the finance committee) or myself an email with your questions and I will make sure you get a response. For the record, I think only once did any member of the public showed up for one of the many budget meetings this year. They were all held on Sat. mornings or in the evening (as they have been for the past several years).   jayjay Citizen Username: Jayjayp Post Number: 643 Registered: 6-2005 Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 4:23 pm:        I didn't know budget meetings were open to the public, and that we could ask questions. In any event, that sort of begs the question as to why departments, and not projects are listed. If a similar question was asked in the past, shouldn't that have triggered a change in the way things are listed?   mrosner Citizen Username: Mrosner Post Number: 2761 Registered: 4-2002 Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 4:46 pm:        All budget meetings were open except for the portion that dealt with personnell decisions. I don't remember the specific answer but I seem to remember that the headings were done as dictated by the state. There might have been another issue, but don't remember for sure. Again, if you email or call Mr. Gross, he will give you the definitive answer.   Howard Levison Citizen Username: Levisonh Post Number: 594 Registered: 1-2004 Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 4:56 pm:        JayJay, you can ask members of the CBAC as well. I have the details if you would like to discuss.