By JIM AUSTIN
Editor

The board of trustees has thawed out a village tax rate that had been frozen in time for the last decade.

The budget for the coming fiscal year calls for something village resdients haven't seen in ten years - a tax increase.

The new budget will hike the tax rate by 50 cents per thousand dollars of assessed value.

Village treasurer Joan Crippen put that 4.5 percent increase in perspective for trustees during a brief reorganizational meeting Monday night in which the tentative budget was formally presented to the board.

A homeowner whose residence has a $100,000 assessed value would receive a tax bill that is $50 higher than last year, she said.

After a decade with a steady tax rate that saw a general fund surplus grow to almost $900,000, the board found it necessary to raise taxes to pay for a multi-year infrastruture project that will see many of the village's worst streets reconstructed. The project is expected to begin this fall with Main Street from River Street to Pine Boulevard and will be paid for with much of surplus.

It will put a pretty good dent in the surplus," Crippen told the trustees.

New mayor Carol Waller said Tuesday that the increase in taxes is being driven by anticipated captial investments in the village's infrastructure, including the streets, sewer and water systems. "With all our infrastructure needs, we have to start getting our money in order so we can get our house in order," she said. "We tried to hold it as close as we could, but we can't deplete all our reserves. We can't just do Main Street, we have to move on to the others."

The board, she said, is trying to plan ahead now in an effort to avoid hitting residents with a big increase later.

Last year, as the board was poised adopt the budget, trustee Stu Taugher proposed cutting taxes to give back some of the surplus. "It's not right to be carrying these balances," he said at the time.

Village streets and sidewalks need work, former trustee David Sanford told the board, adding that he believed the surplus could be used to fix roadways which can no longer be simply repaired, but are in need of total rebuilding. The remaining board members were all in agreement the money could be spent on street repairs and replacement.

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

Trustees worked with their engineers during the past year to develop the streets reconstruction plan. How much of the general fund surplus and another $225,000 in a special street improvement capital reserve fund will be used to fund the first phase of the project will not be known until bids are accepted, Crippen said. Current estimates from Lamont Engineers put the price at $710,000, but only a little more than $450,000 can be charged to the general fund. Water and sewer work that will be done in conjunction with the street rebuilding must be paid for by the rates charged sewer and water users.

Much of the remainder of the new budget remains relatively uncharged from the previous year. General fund appropriations dropped by almost a quarter of a millions dollars, but Crippen said much of that is because of a change in bookkeeping methods recommended by the state comptroller's office. The change should make it easier in coming years to more accurately compare budgets, she said.

The tresurer summed up the village's budgeting philosophy by stating, "We try to hold the line on expenses and are very conservative when projecting revenue. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Salaries for the trustees and mayor remain unchanged. Trustees receive $1,200 annually and the mayor is paid $3,200.

A public hearing on the tentative budget will be held on Monday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m.

Copies of the budget are available in the village clerk's office during regular business hours.