Village Uses $100K Surplus to Boost Reserves, Buy Equipment
The village spent the money on everything from a SMART board to cushioning the emergency fund. Find a complete list in the Village Board information packet, linked to from this article.
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A budget surplus of more than $100,000 in 2011 has allowed the village to purchase some needed items and still continue to build its general fund reserve.
The money — exactly $105,666 — came from the village's general fund, meaning some of it is from the taxpayers. However, taxpayers shouldn't be worried, according to Village Administrator Jeremy Smith.
He said the surplus money was used to purhcase things the village would have budgeted for next year anyway, and administrators can't just put surplus money back into the budget.
"You can't really use this surplus to offset a budget because it's one-time money, so if you took it out of a levy, you can't put it back in," Smith said. "The board could have waited to do this stuff next year, but the outcome would have been the same. Most of the goals we worked toward were proper fund balancing for emergency situations, rainy day funds, and insuring a favorable bond rating."
It's true that the largest chunk of money went toward the general fund reserves for emergency situations, but other items weren't left behind. The Village Board first allocated almost $28,000 among things like the Village Park designs and election funds.
"The board could have waited to do this stuff next year, but the outcome would have been the same."
The village then spent the remaining $78,000 on things like padding the general fund reserve, purchasing the new equipment for the fire department and helping to fund the new welcome signs in Sussex. However, according to Smith, the big ticket item he's most happy with is putting $30,000 away for Sussex's future.
"The most important thing was allocating money toward the general fund reserve," Smith said. "We have a goal of hitting 33 percent for an emergency fund. We're about 30 percent there, so we're getting close to our goal, and I think it's important for the long term goals of the village."
Residents can see the full list of items purhcased in the Village Board's e-packet on Sussex's website. Each item also has a description as to why it was purchased.
Pete
9:22 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
Any "surplus" in a general tax fund means only one thing ... Over taxation! You can be sure the village administrator and boad will find a way to spend it, then raises taxes next year. Enough said.
Joseph
9:22 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
They could also try reducing the tax rate...Wait, that's probably too radical for them.
Arnold Jung
11:46 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
Pete and Joseph I talked with a village board member I know about this large surplus the village had this year and do you realize a majority of the money came from the implementation of ACT 10 on the non union employees of the village. He stated the money was budgeted for 17 months ago by the board before ACT 10 existed and the excessive surplus I was told was a direct result of ACT 10. You should get your facts straight. I am thankful our board members took action to make this surplus possible in the first place.
Joseph
11:56 am on Friday, April 13, 2012
Yes, I know the village saved a bunch of money from Act 10. However, the village also talked about increasing taxes to pay for more things earlier this year. And since they, well, we the taxpayer, have all this "extra" money, they should lower the tax rate. I think I can spend my money better than the village can.
sloowhand
12:29 pm on Friday, April 13, 2012
Wow - things like a reduced snow clearing costs could be caused by the village trying to keep the tax rate up? Obviously there's much more to the surplus but I'm not seeing the evil intent from board. I would proposed the a small percentage surplus is MUCH better that any sort of overage resulting in service cuts or borrowing. As to spending your money more efficiently are you providing services for 10,000 people or do you think you can get the sheriff to just come by when you're in trouble?
Joseph
1:12 pm on Friday, April 13, 2012
Rarely do I need the government's help. The only thing I'd need help with is if my house is on fire, and even then, it will probably be too late to save anything.
Arnold Jung
3:36 pm on Friday, April 13, 2012
Joseph I keep pretty informed on what is going on with the village board thru conversations with the board members and I am wondering when the conversation happened about increasing taxes. I do not recall what the premise was that the board would have been talking about this as a needed course of action. As far as taxes look to some of the villages neighboring communities of comperable size, diversification and services and you will see villages tax rate competes or beats their rate.
WCguy
6:33 pm on Friday, April 13, 2012
Joseph, that is pretty selfish, I like to think of us as a community and not just individual people. The board has a responsibility to provide the services to the entire community not just those who want cretin things. Yes it is rare that you would need police or fire but some people do and that is why they are there. We don't just pay taxes for things we use everyday but to receive services that we might need someday down the road. I have not had the need for police, fire or EMS ether, but I have comfort knowing that they will be here in 5-10 min rather than 20-30 min when it might be too late for me or my family, forget the house. One year with a surplus is not that big of a deal, and if you really looked at the numbers if they reduced the budget by $100,000 you wouldn't even notice the decrease. The money is going towards things that need to be perched down the road anyway so you ether pay for it now or later, at least now they don't have to raise taxes to buy it.
Joseph
8:47 am on Saturday, April 14, 2012
WCguy, why is it selfish to not need government assistance?
As for the tax increase, here you go:
http://sussex.patch.com/articles/taxes-slated-to-go-up-in-sussex
http://sussex.patch.com/articles/village-of-sussex-raises-tax-levy-in-2012-public-hearing-announced
Joseph
11:22 am on Saturday, April 14, 2012
Or rather, since when did it become a bad thing to not depend on the government?