UPDATE: Draft Village Budget Hammers Police And Fire Department Budgets

UPDATE: The deficit, after adjustments have been made, is $600,000 assuming that the fire and police departments agree to pay into the Wisconsin Retirement System. If they don't, the deficit will be $900,000. The Village Board will meet to review the personnel manual at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the East Side Community Center, 6156 Douglas Ave. They'll also meet to finalize the budget at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19 and Thursday, Oct. 20 at the Caledonia Safety Building, 6900 Nicholson Road.

OLDER STORY: Despite having a potential $300,000 deficit in the 2012 draft budget, some Village of Caledonia department heads would see their budgets increase.

But the largest cuts would be in the fire and police departments.

The budget proposes relatively small increases for the highway department, other services, and police support. But the assessor, elections, and professional budgets have increased significantly because the Village will be re-evaluating properties in 2012, they’ll have additional costs for the presidential election, and they have had an increase in worker’s compensation claims.

Here’s what Village spent last year and plans to spend this year:

• Assessor: 2011 - $80,575; 2012 - $182,575
• Elections: 2011 - $54,350; $62,7000
• Professional: 2011 - $556,800; 2012-  $677,800

Despite these increases, the biggest losses are in the fire and police departments’ budgets. The two departments make up about 60 percent of the Village's $12.6 million budget.

The Fire Department budget was decreased significantly from $4.41 million in 2010 to $4.1 million, a reduction of $310,000 or 7.02 percent. The Police Department was decreased from $3.5 million in 2010 to $3.1 million, a reduction of $400,000 or 11.4 percent.

Keep in mind though that these are draft numbers and things are still being hashed out. It's unclear whether the Village will cut staff in those departments.

The budget discussion will continue at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3 at the East Side Community Center, 6156 Douglas Ave. and will include the fire, police, municipal court, professionals, and other budgets.

Come back Tuesday morning to learn more abou the budget meeting.