Colfax trims $33,000 from 2017 budget

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  To balance the 2017 budget, the Colfax Village Board has trimmed $33,705 from the expenses to arrive at a total for revenue and expenses of $1,160,494.

Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, reported at the Colfax Village Board’s November 21 meeting that the Colfax Public Library Board had finalized the library’s 2017 budget, which allowed Niggemann to use finalized numbers for the library in the village’s budget.

Aid from Dunn County for the library will decrease by a little more than $1,000 in 2017, for a total received from the county of $81,097.

The village will contribute $54,791 to the library’s budget.

Money that was trimmed from the village’s 2017 budget included $3,000 from capital outlay for the village hall that was going to be used to replace computer equipment; $2,000 from capital outlay in the police department budget to eventually replace the police vehicle; $10,000 from  capital outlay for street equipment to go toward the department of public works end loader; $5,000 deducted from money set aside for future street projects; $2,700 from the cemetery budget to go toward replacing the lawn mower; $5,000 deducted from economic development; $2,000 from the village board’s budget for outside services/legal fees; $1,500 from the police department budget because a new full-time officer will not be hired at the top end of the wage scale; $2,000 from the street budget for storm sewer maintenance/outside services; $500 from the street budget for curb and gutter maintenance/outside services.

What’s left?

Deducting $3,000 from the village hall’s capital outlay for replacing computer equipment removes all of the money from the budget intended for that purpose.

Niggemann said she believed the money for new computer equipment could come from a designated fund that already has money set aside.

Deducting $2,000 from the police department’s capital outlay budget leaves $5,000 to go toward replacing the police vehicle.

Deducting $10,000 from the capital outlay for street equipment to go toward replacing the end loader leaves $10,000 to put toward capital outlay.

Deducting $5,000 from the money set aside for future street projects leaves $35,000 to be set aside instead of $40,000.

Deducting $2,700 from the cemetery budget’s capital outlay leaves zero dollars being set aside this year for replacing the lawn mower.

Deducting $2,000 from the street maintenance budget for storm sewers leaves $3,000. The 2016 expenditure is expected to be zero dollars. The 2015 expenditure was $2,525. In 2014, the expenditure for storm sewer maintenance also was zero dollars.

Deducting $500 from the street maintenance budget for curb and gutter leaves $2,000. The 2016 expense for curb and gutter is expected to be zero. No money was spent on curb and gutters in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.

Deducting $5,000 from the capital outlay fund for economic development leaves $10,000 in the budget.

The economic development budget had zero dollars allocated this year and expenditures by the end of the year are expected to total $1,593. The 2015 budget allocated zero dollars for economic development but the expenditure was $7,110. The 2014 budget allocated $1,000  for economic development with an actual expenditure of $9,200. No money was spent in 2012 or 2013 on outside services for urban development.

Deducting $2,000 from the village board’s budget for outside legal services leaves a total of $2,000 for the outside services instead of $4,000.

The expected expense for 2016 for outside legal services is $38. The actual amount spent in 2015 was $1,996. The actual amount spent in 2014 was $4,083. The actual amount spent in 2013 was $1,178, and the actual amount for outside legal services spent in 2012 was $6,500.

Deducting $1,500 from the police department’s budget for police chief and full-time police officer wages leaves a total of $98,500.

The police chief is listed at $53,331, and a full-time patrol officer is listed at $40,560.

The police department budget for 2017 is listed at $203,142.

The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved amending the budget at the November 28 meeting.

A budget hearing was scheduled for December 1.