Budget Hearing
The Town Board had their annual budget hearing last night. There was an excellent turnout. Thank you for all that turned out. It was wonderful to see everyone there and concerned. When the town put out their preliminary budget there was a 30.1% increase, this was unacceptable for us. According to the report the budget had increased by $159,306.74; which was outrageous in times like now.
Mr. Scott stated at the beginning of the meeting they had made a mistake on the budget figure from last year. The increase the town of was looking at was now $80,806.74 ($17,772.93 of this figure is the fire district) which actually brings the increase down to $63,033.81.
The main concern during the evening seemed to be the pay increase for the Superintendent and the Assessor. Here is a breakdown of salaries:
- Town Board 0% increase
- Town Justice $4,500 to $4,750 increase of 5%
- Supervisor 0%
- Assessors: Alice $4,800 to $6,500 increase of 35% No increase for John or Randy (Note: There is confusion on how much Alice is actually making at this date. Mike Scott quoted $4,800 for Alice and $3,000 for John & Randy each however; that doesn’t compute to $9,750 a year.)
- Town Clerk 0%
- Bookkeeper $6,600 to $7,200 increase of 9%
- Code Enforcement Officer $3,925 to $4,050 increase of 3%
- Dog Control Officer 0%
- Superintendent $32,000 to $36,000 increase of 12.5%
I am not against anyone receiving a well-earned raise and I’m sure that none of you are either but there seems to be some raises that are way above what is logical. I believe our Highway Superintendent should remember that he also has a vehicle that he drives back and forth to work that is paid for with tax dollars. I understand that he has to go out and check roads with it, but he only lives 5 minutes away. If this is too much for his budget should give that up. He doesn’t seem to realize that the vehicle is part of his pay package. Mr. Rung was also commenting that his employees had a clothing allowance. What does he think his contractual account is? My favorite part of his heart felt speach though was if he did not receive this raise then they could find someone else. So you are going to give up a job for $32,000 over a raise? Don’t you all wish you had this option?
There was a huge uproar among the people present, when it was stated how much of an increase the chairman of the assessors was asking for. At this point there are no raises in the budget for anyone which is unacceptable. As Paul Sadler stated his taxes are going up also and he should get his 3%. He’s asking for a lousy $125 that comes out to $2.40 a week. Come on Board think about it, think outside the box for a change.
By the end of the meeting the budget was trimmed another $47,452.11 bringing the increase in the budget to $15,581.70 (this is with no raises and does not include the $17,772.93 for the fire department) and a tax increase of 2.57%. The majority of this figure are uncontrollable costs such as insurance, social security, retirement and so on.
The board is going to hold another meeting to go over the budget with the taxpayers on Thursday, November 13. The board is not required to do this and it is nice of them to do this however; when you have this many concerned people do you really want to back to keeping every thing to yourselfs? The public appreciates an honest, open board and would like to thank them for holding this other meeting.
I made a mistake in not seeing the $125 increase requested by Paul Sadler. This one’s a no-brainer and I will address the board concerning it. Again, my fault. I didn’t see it in there.
As for the rest of them, with the exception of the Highway Superintendent, the taxpayers simply can’t afford pay increases during an economic crisis like this. Don’t forget, our taxes already went up significantly each of the last four years. Plus some of the pay increases requested are a joke. Concerning the Highway Superintendent’s salary, I’m sure the board will make sense of this and find some middle ground everyone can live with.
It appears as thought the Town of Wirt board is making an attempt to lower their preliminary budget as much as possible.
The board is in a difficult situation when an elected official states that the board could find someone else if he dosen’t get the increase he has asked for. I do believe that Mr. Rung is doing an overall good job and is being accountable of what he was elected to do. His reports each month are very detailed and it appears he is a good asset for the town. I also think if his position was appointed that Mr. Rung, the Town of Wirt and his family would benefit. The town would not be in the situation they had been in the previous 10 years and Mr. Rung would most likely have more security. With Mr. Rung being a working supervisor, he should never make less than the employee’s he supervises.
I also noticed that the budget showed that the assessor’s salary for 2008 was $9,750.00. The 2009 preliminary budget for the assessors is $12,500. That is an increase of 30%. I understand that John Day and Randy Harmon make $3,000.00 each and they did not ask for an increase. That leaves $3,750.00 for Alice Dunbar. I understand that Mrs. Dunbar has asked for her salary to be increased to $6,500.00. That is an increase of 73%. There could be a reason for this increase such as Mr. Harmon is not there during the hours of operation and Mr. Day is not there during the week during the hours of operation on Mondays. Alice may be entitled to the increase and the board may want to decrease the other two assessor’s salary. This is another difficult situation the board is in with 3 elected assessors. They may want to consider appointing 1 assessor for $10,000 to $12,000 a year. I think the town would receive several application for a position that is only a couple of days a week with all the Monday holidays off.
Its all about being open and fair.