Brandon Twp- The township’s financial status is not as bad as boardmembers first believed.
It’s worse.
Township Treasurer Terry Beltramo painted what Supervisor Kathy Thurman termed a ‘bleak picture? during the July 6 board meeting as he presented the current treasury report and projections for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Beltramo said he is just trying to show a trend.
‘Revenue is down and expenses are up,? he said. ‘We are projecting that we will have a large deficit in revenue for 2009 compared to what we expected.?
That deficit, Beltramo estimates, could be roughly $500,000. He attributes it to the economy affecting income sources for the township including state sales tax, with consumers buying less, and property tax collection being down because homeowners have been foreclosed on or have lost their jobs and aren’t paying their tax bills.
Not only is revenue down for the township, but expenses are also approximately $54,000 more than first estimated. Beltramo has based the trends on figures from the first six months of the year.
Township boardmembers decided in December to have a budget committee examine ways to cut $150,000 from the budget. They ultimately approved moves including the restructuring of staff and reductions in department expenditures. The key component to saving money, a possible change in healthcare, is still being studied. Now, the budget committee must look again at how to save more.
Trustee Tom Stowell, a member of the budget committee, said it is time to delve a little deeper.
‘There is no more revenue to be raised, so we have to make cuts in expenditures,? he said. ‘If we make mid-course corrections now, our budget issues will be less severe. If we wait until the end of the year, it makes it that much harder.?
Beltramo believes that cuts will have to come from non-mandated services? he defined those as the recreation and building departments, as well as the senior center, and road services such as chloride treatments.
‘We have to cut to the bone,? he said. ‘I would hope it doesn’t mean no recreation services, but it could. I don’t want to see those cuts or any at the senior center. I’d rather see chloride and the fall cleanup go away, before any services for the kids. I’m not against the park, but we constantly pour money there we don’t have. If we don’t watch our p’s and q’s, we may not have a park, period.?
All is not lost, however. Beltramo believes this can be turned around and notes that the budget is fluid and could just as easily go the other way.
‘We have something that could be devastating, but we have a chance to fix it,? he said. ‘I don’t want to curtail services, but we may have to? just as people have to stop going out to eat or to movies (during hard times). They protect their resources, and that is what we have to do.?