By JIM AUSTIN
Editor

The village board adopted the budget for the coming fiscal year, but not before trustee Stu Taugher tried unsuccessfully to cut the tax rate by 50 cents.

The new budget will hold the tax rate at $11.30 - the same it has been for the last decade.

During its annual Inspection Day meeting Wednesday morning, Taugher told the board he had given the more than $850,000 budget surplus a great deal of thought and he believed it would be appropriate to use some of the money to cut the tax rate. The surplus and the special reserve funds held by the village total more than $1 million of taxpayer money, he said.

"It's not right to be carrying these balances," he said.

According to Taugher, to lower the rate by 50 cents would require using approximately $55,000 of the surplus and could be made up in one year by the interested generated by the surplus.

Taugher presented a motion to lower the rate which was seconded for discussion by David Sanford.

"Stu's point is well taken, but I disagree," Sanford said.

The village streets and sidewalks need work and Sanford said he believes the surplus could be used to fix roadways which can no longer be simply repaired, but are in need of total rebuilding. Once rebuilt, the streets could than be effectively maintained.

The remaining board members were all in agreement that the money could be spent on street and sidewalk repairs and replacement.

"If you ask the citizens I think they would rather see better streets and sidewalks," Lee Malone commented.

Streets committee chairman Ed Tripp said they had already been discussing repairs and would work toward getting a program going.

Village treasurer Joan Crippen said they wanted a plan in place before putting money in the budget.

"I don't think the surplus is a major problem. We can get rid of it in nothing flat if we want to," said Mayor Wendell Tripp. "It's not a cloud hanging over our head."

As his motion was about to come to a vote, Taugher said he would withdraw it if the board was going to follow through on its discussion and establish and put in motion a plan to make repairs to the streets.

The new budget earmarks $30,000 for street improvements and that money comes from a special reserve fund set aside for street improvements separate from the budget surplus. That fund is estimated to total nearly a quarter of a million dollars at the end of the current fiscal year.

The board did not appropriate additional funds from the surplus or the streets reserve fund in the budget to support a more ambitious street repair program, but adopted the budget with spending at the original level.