Zero Increase Budget...
The Village Trustees met to begin discussions about the coming budget process this past Wednesday evening. The Village President has expressed his desire to see a 'no hiring' policy to cover the next five years. Others have begun to talk about layoffs of existing village employees; shortened work weeks; service reductions, and so on.
This comes against the back-drop of discussions about a referendum on road repairs and tax increases to support that to the tune of $1 to $2 million dollars per year. Short of that, the money would be borrowed and the costs of pay-back and interest would be added to the budget.
All this is a bit premature given the fact that we don't have a clue as to what the final figures from the State of Wisconsin will be and won't until mid-August or beyond.
My concern is very simple. I would hope that we don't permit ourselves to get so focused on a zero increase budget to the exclusion of things we ought not be cutting. There must be a balance between taxing and services. Some services, such as police and fire seem to be about as thin today as would be prudent. Fuel costs obviously will drive up the police budget; does that mean the police department should be cut in order to maintain a 'zero' budget increase? I think that would be the rough equivalent of tossing the baby out with the bath water.
That is but one example.
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MATC Board Question Response...
I have received no response since sending the email requesting information as to the status of the Director position that former superintendent Victor Rossetti held for the past months.
It may be that MATC simply has not had time to respond. It may be that their 'non-response' is the response.
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Traffic Signals At Mequon & Legend...
Given that today is August 1st, it looks unlikely to me, as a layperson, that the intersection will have signals installed prior to the opening of the new Sendik's location. My recollection was that it was scheduled to open in early-September...and, I don't doubt that they'll hit that target, if not open sooner, given the huge level of activity apparent.
