2024 Yellow Springs Giving & Gifting Catalogue
Dec
06
2024
Village Council

Village Council budgets $18.1 million for 2025

At their most recent regular meeting, Monday, Nov. 18, Village Council members gave first reading to the ordinance that will set the projected 2025 budget, which at this point totals $18,102,489.

Council will give a second reading and hold a public hearing on the budget ordinance at its next meeting Dec. 2. Following Council approval, a finalized budget must be submitted to the Greene County auditor by Dec. 20.

Within the projected $18.1 million budget is more than $5.2 million in appropriations for the general fund — the primary operating fund for local government that includes money for Village Council, mediation services, commissions, administrative costs and more.

The largest portion of the 2025 general fund — at 39% — is public safety at $2,044,258. According to Police Chief Paige Burge, that’s the largest yearly budget the local police department has ever had. Last year, Council budgeted $1.9 million for police.

Following Monday’s Council meeting, Village Finance Director Michelle Robinson wrote to the News to confirm that the general fund is fully balanced, with next year’s municipal revenues — as forecasted by the county auditor — exceeding Village expenses.

General fund revenues for next year are projected at $16,745,486 in combined revenues from transfers, income and property taxes as well as other fees and miscellaneous sources. In a memo to Council, Robinson also pointed out that, specifically, an increase in tap fees from new homes being built in Yellow Springs was a boon to municipal revenue.

Special revenue funds — or money restricted to specific uses — for 2025 total $2,054,218, with the most expensive line item being parks and recreation at $910,361, followed by street maintenance and repair at $747,825.

Other noteworthy special revenue funds include $250,184 in the Village’s affordable housing fund, $40,000 for economic development, $50,000 for ongoing efforts to expand municipal broadband services, $42,000 for pool upgrades and nearly $29,000 for new Channel 5 equipment and upgrades.

One special revenue fund that was exempted in the proposed 2025 budget ordinance was a request from local affordable housing nonprofit Home, Inc. for $180,000 to help defray costs associated with executing phase two of constructing The Cascades — a future 32-unit development focused on providing low-cost rentals to seniors.

Council rejected this request at the group’s previous meeting. On Monday, Council member Brian Housh brought it back to the table, this time at $90,000 — half of what Home, Inc. initially sought.

After some discussion on the dais among Council members, as well as both support and opposition from citizens who attended Monday’s meeting — the highest attendance in the last year — Council again rejected the request. Housh’s motion failed 2-3, with him and Gavin DeVore Leonard in favor; Council members Trish Guftason, Carmen Brown and Kevin Stokes voted against the motion.

Elsewhere in the 2025 budget are the capital project funds — which account for the financial resources used to construct, acquire or improve municipal assets — and the enterprise funds — which account for services and utilities that are financed primarily through user fees, rather than taxpayer support. Those funds, the capital and enterprise, garnered $1,766,220 and $9,077,974 respectively.

All told, should the $18.1 million 2025 budget — with its relative increases in expenditures compared to years past — pass upon Council’s second reading of the ordinance, Finance Director Robinson believes the Village will stay solvent over the coming year.

“Budgeting for the Village has traditionally involved a conservative number for revenue and a more expanded number for expenses,” Robinson wrote in her memo. “As part of our financial planning, we have removed some of this conservativeness, but still believe that the Village will outperform the plan. Revenue projections provided by the county auditor are historically conservative.”

Municipalities, Robinson wrote, may even operate with greater efficiency by eschewing conservatism and overshooting projected expenses in budgets because legislative bodies wouldn’t have to make supplemental financial requests as frequently.

“This allows staff to take advantage of pricing and timing for projects that save money over time,” she added.

Looking ahead, Robinson and other Village staffers have been “actively working to build a long-term financial plan” for municipal operations over the next decade, according to her memo. That plan, Robinson said, takes into consideration future revenue projections, operating expenses and capital initiatives.

With a note of caution, Robinson told the News: “We are technically balanced, but it can become an issue if future cash flow and projects don’t align with the budgeted expenditures.”

The proposed 2025 budget as drafted in Ordinance 2024-18 can be read in full here

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