SYRACUSE – Town council passed a $3.2 million budget Monday and set employee salaries for the coming year.
Syracuse councilmen passed on first reading a 2012 budget of $3,220,832, though member Brian Woody alone voted no. He told other members he did so on “general principle.”
The highest amounts allotted by funds include $1.6 million in the general fund, $855,000 in streets and $360,000 in parks. Woody has expressed disapproval at past council meetings with the amount of money allotted to parks and recreation.
The tax levy approved for 2012 is $1,584,066, which is up $127,000 from the current levy.
Among the highest salaries approved for next year are $63,688 for the town manager, $56,000 for town marshal and $52,349 for clerk-treasurer. Council president will receive $6,142 for the year and other members $5,125 each.
Council also voted to seek bids for a grant administrator for Community Development Block Grant Disaster funds of up to $1.4 million to cover improvements to the Oakwood Hotel site. Buckingham Companies, new owner of Oakwood, is considering a new hotel at the site, according to a letter from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, which is overseeing the grant.
The office said in an Aug. 29 letter to Syracuse that it requires that Buckingham create at least 90 new full-time positions at Oakwood. At least 46 of those positions must be held by people from low-to-moderate-income families.
And during the meeting members approved $18,000 for BC Tile and Floor Covering to replace the carpet in most of the town hall, which is original to the 1985 building; and $1,390 for new gutters for the building. Both were at the request of Clerk-Treasurer Julie Kline.
Kline also noted that recycling has increased dramatically in Syracuse since the town contracted with Borden Waste Away and residents began using 96-pound bins. She said while residents previously averaged about 120,000 pounds of recyclables, they now recycle about 341,000 pounds.
“Borden said they've seen an increase of about 30 percent in most towns, so this is 10 times higher,” she remarked.
