Lisbon enjoys $180K budget surplus

Posted: March 9, 2010

Town of Lisbon — "Because of a combination of good fortune and hard work," according to Town Chairman Matt Gehrke, the Town of Lisbon has experienced a $179,171surplus in its 2009 operating budget.

The Town Board postponed until its March 23 meeting a decision on how to use the money in the 2010 budget and left open the possibility that town residents may get to decide how to spend the money at the annual town meeting in April.

There appeared to a consensus at Monday night's meeting, according to Gehrke, that the supervisors wanted to return at least $79,000 to the general fund reserves. But, there were differing opinions on how to spend the remaining $100,000.

Supervisor Dan Fischer said he would like to "take down the debt" and use the $100,000 to reduce from $550,000 to $450,000 the debt service payments in the 2010 budget. The size of the town's debt has plagued the newly elected supervisors, all elected since 2007, since they took office.

Supervisor Dan Heier said he would like to use the money to repair more roads in 2010. It appears nearly all of the budgeted $400,000 in road repairs will have to be used on repairing Lake Five Road from Highway MD south to Plainview Road.

But Heier also argued that the decision ought to be left to the voters at the annual town meeting.

"It is a win, win situation either way," said Gehrke who pointed out that if the money is used to reduce debt that may save tax dollars that would have been devoted to pay off debts. If the money is used for roads, it will mean more sections of roads may get fixed in 2010 which will save tax dollars by reducing the amount of money that may need to be spent or borrowed for road repairs in the future.

Town Administrator Jeff Musche said the two-week delay may help board deliberations because town officials will have more information later this month related to the costs to repair Lake Five Road. The latest town engineer estimates on the project are about $345,000 but that does not include additional costs to that may be needed to build new road bed in addition to resurfacing the road.

Musche said engineers are not yet sure how much it will cost to replace three sections of the foundation of the road. The road bed repairs are believed to be needed in a few hundred yards of the road extending from south of the Community Park entrance north to Plainview Road. The cost information is expected to be available by the next board meeting.

That information, Musche said, may help board members - and perhaps town residents - make a decision on how to spend the surplus money.

The surplus, according to Gehrke, was because "our operating revenue was only slightly less than projected but did include some jumps during the last few months of 2009 that helped us greatly and were unanticipated."

The unanticipated revenues included several unexpected grant awards, higher-than-anticipated cable television fees, and greater-than-expected fire and police department revenues.

On the expense side, according to Gehrke, workers compensation insurance, planning consultation, and spending for both the police and fire departments was lower than budgeted.

"And, I think for the first time in years there was a reduction in attorney fees. This expense was down dramatically during the last nine months of the year. General legal fees were more than $20,000 under budget," he added.

The town had racked up huge legal fees during the past decade because of squabbles over the town police department, which has been abolished, and intramural battles among board members, all of whom lost bids for re-election.

"Some of these items were one-time windfalls. Others are sustainable increases in income or reductions in expenditures," he added.

He praised Musche, Town Treasurer Rebecca Plotecher and the town staff for the surplus that he said was the result of "a combination of good fortune and hard work."

Gehrke suggested, and town supervisors appeared to agree, that not all of the $179,171 be returned to the reserve fund. He said that would give the town a reserve balance of $1.4 million which he said was "higher than we need it to be at."