Deer Lake Beach: closed.
Park activities for youth and seniors: cancelled.
Seasonal jobs: forget about it.
Almost every activity offered by the Independence Township Parks and Recreation Department is on the chopping block, as officials struggle to bring the township’s budget closer to balance.
‘These are hard decisions,? said Susan Hendricks, finance director, to the Independence Township Board of Trustees at Tuesday’s regular meeting. ‘This is not the budget any of us wanted to see.?
The board voted 4-2 to approve the approximately $20 million budget. Trustees Daniel Travis and Daniel Kelly voted no, and Trustee Charles Dunn was absent. If the board had voted down the budget, the township would not have been able to make payments in January, Hendricks said.
‘No one come to work on January 2 because they wouldn’t get paid,? she said.
The budget problems have been intensified by reductions in state shared revenues, and the defeat in November of the proposed adult activity center millage. That would have collected about $659,000 for programs and activities for seniors, as well as operations of a new center.
‘I want to assure the public that this budget process has been harder than it has been in the past 10 years,? said Treasurer James Wenger at the Dec. 5 meeting. ‘There has been a lot of soul searching.?
The township does not have the budget to fund existing programs. Many of the cuts needed will be in the Parks and Recreation department, but a withdrawal from the fund balance, the township’s savings account, will probably still be necessary, Wenger said.
‘I support this with reservations,? he said. ‘Am I happy about it? No. Do I think we need to seriously look at this in 2007? Yes.?
Trustee Larry Rosso said he considers the budget to be preliminary.
‘This is a starter budget, in my estimation ? I support it just to have a budget,? Rosso said. ‘I support this with great difficulty. I’m not at all satisfied with it.?
Another issue is the township’s increasing cost of its retiree health plan, an approximately $457,000 obligation, said Clerk Shelagh Vanderveen.
‘I had hoped to more forward with that this year, but that’s not going to happen,? Vanderveen said.
Kelly said he did not support the budget and would not vote for it. Even with cuts to Parks and Recreation, the budget is still in a deficit.
‘I won’t vote for a deficit budget,? he said. ‘Our expenditures exceed our revenues ? we went to the voters to try to get them to bail us out and they turned us down.?
The township administration did not plan for that possibility, which was a failure on its part, Kelly said.
Since 87 percent of the budget comes from labor, the township also needs to look at reducing those costs. The Corridor Improvement Authority plan for Sashabaw Road will probably have to also be reduced or eliminated, he said.
Travis said that to deal with the labor costs, layoffs of full-time employees may be necessary.
‘I’m not at all pleased with this budget,? he said.
The administration needs to review every aspect of the budget and avoid dipping into the fund balance, he said.
Township Supervisor David Wagner said the budget problems have been mounting for years, and only now are township trustees starting to take them seriously.
‘I’ve had no input from the board,? Wagner said. ‘Over the years, the township has not looked at things long term ? the board needs to recognize that there has to be drastic changes.?
Township administrators will hold workshops to reexamine the budget on the second Tuesday in January and February, Jan. 9 and Feb. 13.
Before those meetings, Wagner said he will meet with Hendricks to discuss ways to improve the budget.
For more information on the township budget, see the Dec. 13 edition of the Clarkston News.