Village budget plan includes rate hikes, deferred upgrades

Sewer rates in the Village of Fredonia will jump 12% in 2020 and nearly half a million dollars worth of capital projects will be deferred as part of a preliminary 2020 budget approved last week by the Village Board.

With some state figures still not available, the proposed budget calls for village general fund spending to increase 0.21% to $1,126,380 while revenues will drop 0.14% to $998,212, requiring a transfer of $128,168 from the village’s fund balance.

The total tax levy and tax rate won’t be known until all state figures are in, village Clerk/Treasurer Sandi Tretow said.

The sewer utility budget originally showed a proposed increase of 4% to 8% for 2020, but Public Works Director Roger Strohm said that would not be enough to balance the budget as work on improvements continues on the wastewater treatment plant. 

Strohm proposed 10% rate increases in each of the next five years to put the sewer utility “back in the black.” That was recommended by the Finance Committee to the Village Board.

Last week, however, the board voted to increase rates 12% in 2020 and followed by two 10% increases and two 8% increases.

The rate increase will take effect Jan. 1 and will appear on next April’s bill.

Costs of operating the treatment plant have increased due to necessary upgrades and state regulations concerning phosphorus discharges and other regulations, Strohm said.

Sewer rates have risen 10% each of the last two years.

Meanwhile, water rates also will increase, but just 3%, which Dohrwardt said was needed to keep up with inflation.

That increase will put the village water utility “in the black for the first time in a long time,” Dohrwardt said.

Strohm said the increase will cost a 10,000-gallon user an additional $14 per quarter and a 25,000-gallon user an extra $24 per quarter.

The relatively small increase is due to a 14.64% decrease in operating expenses. 

In other budget categories, health insurance for village employees will go up 2.8%. Dental and vision insurance both will increase 6%.

Requests for capital purchases from village departments in 2020 totaled $735,195, but only $141,042 of the overall levy is budgeted for those items, necessitating removing $594,153 of items from the budget.

Items being removed from the list include:

• $12,500 for surveillance cameras.

• $15,000 for a fire department grass-fire rig truck costing $70,000.

• $340,000, leaving $80,000 for a fire department pumper truck.

• $60,000 for improvements at the intersection of Fox Glen, Martin and Cedar Valley.

• $4,050 covering half the cost for benches and tables at Freedom Park.

• $8,000 for a baseball scoreboard at Oak Park.

Those cuts still left a shortfall of $46,608.        

Officials said they expect to meet that shortfall by coming in under budget in other areas and otherwise using unassigned fund balance.

The budget for the fire department and ambulance service is expected to increase 28.51%, or $51,667, to $232,915. 

That’s due mainly to $35,000 in health-insurance benefits for the village’s first full-time EMS person, who replaced two part-timers earlier this year.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, and voted on that night by trustees.