Our Village has been appropriately conservative in budgeting throughout the years and we take our roles as the overseers of taxpayer money very seriously. Every line item is carefully monitored and debated and this has kept us in good stead as shown by our excellent Moody’s rating of Aa1.
Despite the financial and economic upheaval caused by the Coronavirus pandemic we are very pleased that we project a balanced budget for the current year ending July 31, 2020.
In June the Village Board passed a budget of approximately 23 million dollars for the fiscal year 20-21 (our fiscal year begins in August), a percentage change in tax rate of 2.15%. Due to the unknown effects COVID-19 will have on our income we were careful to craft a budget that is more conservative than normal, eliminating some needed items that will be put on the back burner until there is better clarity.
Within this year’s budget we have fully funded essential services and provided ample money for police, fire, and ambulance protection. Our Police Department and Emergency Dispatching Department account for about 30% of the annual budget.
Although some things we’d hoped to accomplish this year are on the back burner, we may find that there is an ability to fund them as our financial picture becomes clearer, including improvements to Herrick Park and planning for water quality improvements.
The Village is on track to dredge Town Pond this fall, an important component in our efforts to improve water quality there and in Hook Pond.
We take our responsibility to the taxpayers very seriously because we are taxpayers ourselves. Each of us on
The Elms Party
has owned homes here in the village for many, many years. We sometimes have to make tough choices when it comes to money, but be assured the careful balance of repairing infrastructure, public safety, and the careful use of taxpayer money is always our main goal.
