NORTH WEBSTER - The North Webster Town Council held its annual budget workshop Monday.
The meeting is held each year to lay out budget priorities for the following year and no resolutions are finalized. All three council members, President Dan Thystrup, Lisa Strombeck and Dave Waliczek, along with Clerk-Treasurer Leigh Anne Jessop, attended.
During the meeting, Jessop informed the council that she had received a phone call and subsequent letter last week from Borden Waste-Away Services, the trash collection provider for the town, informing her that the company would be instituting a monthly rate increase.
“They’re saying that not only will we be paying the fuel and compliance surcharge, additionally they are upping our contractual obligation, as well, per resident,” said Jessop. “I did ask for a copy of our contract, because it is up in June of 2024.”
Currently the rate is $11.47 per resident, per month. Borden wants to raise the rate to $12.16.
Jessop said the town is already paying a fuel and compliance surcharge, which is not part of its contract with Borden, that is an additional third of the agreed-upon monthly outlay to the company.
Strombeck noted it wasn’t a “huge amount” but understood the bigger financial picture for the town and its residents.
“We’re already in the red because of the fuel and compliance surcharge we get every month, which is thousands (of dollars),” answered Jessop. “When I first started and I realized how much we were paying in fuel and surcharges, it’s eating up our account.”
“It sounds like we need to check around and get some rates from others,” Strombeck said.
Jessop said the town would have to go through a bidding process to consider a new provider for the town, which the council agreed should happen. The council agreed to allow the representative from Borden to address the council during a regular meeting in order to discuss in greater detail the proposed rate increase.
In other business, the council proposed setting aside $15,000 to pay for the Indiana Department of Transportation’s required modifications to the USI Consultants’ feasibility study on the planned North Webster Trail, which would connect the town to Wawasee Middle School, located several miles north on Ind. 15. The modifications estimate was $8,500, but the council agreed to budget the larger amount to have a buffer in case additional expenses were necessary.
Additionally, Jessop presented a letter sent to her by Scott Kuhn, vice president of the North Webster-Tippecanoe Township Chamber of Commerce, requesting $8,500 be set aside for chamber projects related to the beautification of the town. The council agreed to a proposed earmark of $5,000 in the budget, but emphasized that this was not money being given to the chamber for whatever purpose it saw fit. Instead, requests for the money would still have to be made by the chamber to the town council for approval to receive the funding.
“If it’s something that we don’t agree with what they’re wanting the money for, we don’t have to give it to them,” said Strombeck. “They need to come to us with a proposal and an invoice, so we can see what it’s going to cost. Then we can decide, ‘yeah, we’ll give you money towards that.'”
“It’s not going to be up to them to dictate what that money is spent on,” said Jessop.
“It stays in our budget here, until we see what they want to spend it on,” said Thystrup. “They want to work with us. They’re good people.
The council also agreed to propose a 3% pay increase for members of the North Webster Police Department, as well as for other town employees. According to Waliczek, this has been the norm for the past several years, and will be in addition to a blanket base pay raise that officers recently received.
It was noted that both the Indiana State Police and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office have raised the pay scale for their officers. Thystrup pointed out that it is not possible for small towns like North Webster to keep up with the state and county when it comes to salaries.
Jessop also reminded the council that money has already been budgeted for the police department to purchase a new vehicle.
The next regular meeting of the North Webster Town Council will take place at 6 p.m. Sept. 19 inside the North Webster Community Center.