The Village of Jordan adopted its 2012-13 budget on April 19 and presented it to the press at a board meeting on May 4.
The adopted budget, which will be voted on in May, totals $685,849.89, which is a 2.3-percent increase over this year, which was $670,390. Mayor Richard Platten said the process went smoothly aside from a few hiccups. The big headache, he said, was planning for the 2013-14 budget, when Platten says the village will lose about $35,000 in revenue from sales taxes.
“The county changed some things, and we’re not longer going to be getting a cut,” he said.
He said the village plans on finding ways to cut back on expenditures across the board this year to prepare for next.
“We can reduce the need for worry,” he said.
To balance the budget, Platten said the village had to dip into its reserves to the tune of $41,554.49, which is a great number compared with how much reserves were spent on this year’s budget. Because of many factors, $109,428 from the appropriated fund balance was used.
“We really tried to avoid spending that wasn’t absolutely necessary,” Platten said. “The weather this year was a godsend because we were able to spend less on the winter.”
Most everything in the budget is in-line with the 2011-12 budget.
In other village news:
A village resident brought her concern about the noise level coming from a neighbor’s garage where she says a racecar is stored.
She said it’s bothering her, a village resident for 12 years, and that she wants some sort of resolution. The village law says that anything above 88 decibels is considered illegal. The woman, who wished not to be identified, said her husband downloaded an app for his iPhone that measures decibel levels. His Phone said the revving engine hit 70 decibels.
The dispute is on Clinton Street, and the woman said lately the noise is happening at night. The board suggested that the resident is fixing the car to get ready for racing season, which is about to start up. Because the resident is technically not breaking any laws, there is little that can be done.
The board suggested the resident try and level with her neighbor about the noise, but outside of that, there isn’t too much that can be done.
“I don’t know if we have any other options,” Platten said.
The village has hired Bell and Spina as the architect for replacing village hall’s roof.
“We’re going to meet, do an inspection, test everything and generate a time-table,” said Frank DiRisio, village superintendent.
Next phase is coming up with a design, then begin taking bids on the project.
Neil Benjamin Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
