Crime & Safety

Village Administrator: State Budget Cuts Weren't That Bad

Still, with less revenue, the Village will need to find ways to adjust their spending or raise taxes.

Want to learn more about this topic? "Like" us on the Facebook button below. If we get more than five likes, we'll know to do a follow-up.

Now that the state budget is law, the Village staff is sorting through how the state budget cuts will affect the Village's bottomline.

And the general consensus is: it’s not as bad as they thought, but it’s still bad.

Find out what's happening in Caledoniawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Initially Village officials said they would be losing 50 percent of their state shared revenue, 15 percent of their highway money and all recycling dollars.

Tom Lebak, the Village Administrator, said highway aids were originally expected to decrease by $137,406, but they learned the decrease would be $91,604. In 2011, the Village is expected to receive about $1 million in Highway Aid. Shared revenue will decrease by $342,662, a 36 percent decrease. In 2011, the Village is expected to receive $944,115.

Find out what's happening in Caledoniawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“So the decrease really averages out to about a 25 percent decrease in state shared revenue and highway aids,” Lebak said.

In total, the Village lost $500,000 of its $9.3 million operating budget.

The initial state budget proposal also called for cutting recycling payments to local municipalities, but that funding was restored.

Village officials can now look at ways to adjust to the revenue loss, but that represents only half of the budget crunch. If costs increase, the Village might have a bigger hole to fill.

To offset the revenue loss, the state wanted public employees to pay 10 percent of their health insurance premiums and contribute to their pensions. But Village employees already pay 10 percent of their health insurance premium.

While the Village budget usually isn’t approved until fall, Lebak said they are looking at these budget issues now.

Correction: This version corrects the previous version, which should have stated that the Village of Caledonia union employees, except police and fire employees, would pay 5.8 percent of their pension into the Wisconsin Retirement System.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.