Twenty-four budgets were presented to the Warsaw Common Council Monday, with the remaining to be presented at 6 p.m. Aug. 16.
Oakwood Cemetery sexton Hal Heagy presented his 2022 proposed cemetery budget of $746,167, down 2% from 2021’s budget of $761,985. The Cemetery Permanent Fund proposal for 2022 was presented at $131,500, down 4% from 2021’s budget of $136,500.
Larry Plummer, superintendent of Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department, presented his 2022 proposed Parks & Recreation budget at $2,910,700, a 13% increase over 2021’s budget.
All the departments for the city penciled in salary and wage increases of 3.5% for 2022 for employees. Plummer said, “I think it’s critical to commit to a wage that will retain our skilled employees. That’s been my concern all along, is that we have a wage that is there to retain our carpenters, our mechanics, our electricians, things of that sort. So I think that’s very important and I’m happy to see some increase in there.”
Under capital outlays, Plummer said, “Something we didn’t have in our budget last year was the parks buildings. As you know, we would like to move forward with our park office and maintenance building. We were asked to put $100,000 in there as a possible mortgage payment over 10 years, so I stuck that in there.”
Mayor Joe Thallemer said he asked Plummer to put that $100,000 in there as a potential installment payment.
“We talked earlier about the BOT process for building a new maintenance facility/Parks office. We’re in the process right now of getting information on that,” Thallemer said, noting a meeting is this week and financing is part of that. “We do have an opportunity to do installment contracts on that, which is why I asked him to put some funds in there. You’ll be hearing more about that project soon.”
He said if the city is happy with where they’re at, there will be a public hearing on it and they will get a guaranteed maximum price. Nothing is paid upfront until the city gets the keys to the building.
Plummer said it was “crucial” to have all of the Parks employees back at Central Park where “we can communicate with our staff daily. Being separated has been hard on all of us, so I really hope that comes through.”
The Parks non-reverting operating fund for 2022 is proposed at $20,350, an 11% increase from the 2021 budget; while the Park non-reverting capital fund was proposed at $30,000.
Police Chief Scott Whitaker started with his general budget, which is proposed at $5,905,130 for 2022, an 11.37% increase over 2021’s budget of $5,302,205.
He said in meeting with the wage committee, it was understood that the budget would include pay incentives for specialty positions, certifications and additional activities. Those include firearms and taser instructors, dive team member, ERT member, emergency vehicle operations instructor, accident reconstructionist, evidence clerk/tech, forensics technician and Deer Task Force administrative assistant. The increase for the specialty/incentive pay is being factored in at a total of $13,500.
Councilman and Deer Task Force coordinator Jeff Grose said for the past 15 years, the Task Force has “been asking this department to do countless things for us. Volunteering,” so the extra pay was for that.
2022 will be the first time the Police Forfeiture Fund has a budget, of $45,300. The money comes from seized and forfeited property and a sheriff’s sale. The 2022 budget includes $5,300 for police car equipment; $5,500 for in-car video system; and $34,500 for a police vehicle.
The proposed Law Continuing Education fund for the Warsaw Police Department for 2022 is proposed at $22,500, down 43.04% from 2021’s budget of $39,500. The Police Pension was proposed at $558,048, a 23.6% decrease from 2021’s budget of $730,412.
Dustin Dillon, street superintendent, presented his general street budget at 2022 at $5,674,419, an increase of about 7.5% over 2021’s budget of $5,279,798. Along with the employee salary increase of 3.5%, he said they added another line item for three additional employees. The three additional employees would work for the street department, but also part time for the wastewater utility. With the wage increases, additional employees and related benefits, the personal services part of the general street budget increased by almost 12.5%.
Under machinery and equipment under capital outlays, $150,000 was budgeted for each of two F-750 plow trucks; $80,000 for a small payloader; $65,000 each for two small dump trucks; $9,000 each for two lawn mowers; $15,000 for an equipment trailer; $200,000 for a rear load garbage truck; and $50,000 for a digital sign printer.
On the garbage truck, Dillon said, at the next Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, he was going to seek permission to go ahead and purchase a rear load garbage truck this year. There was money in this year’s budget set for larger plow trucks, which “we can’t get,” due to the computer chip issue across the globe.
“I came across an opportunity with the rear load garbage truck, the same dealer we’ve been working with, they had a stock truck that is brand new, that is available now, that we can get and have within the next two to three weeks most likely,” Dillon said. “If we wait until January and we order this garbage truck, it’s going probably mid to late 2024. They’re about an 18-month lead time to get out.”
He also presented four other 2022 proposed budgets: wheel tax, $500,000, a 53.85% increase over the $325,000 budgeted for 2021; motor vehicle highway, $350,000 for 2022, a 16.67% increase over the $300,000 budgeted for 2021; local roads and streets, $350,000 for 2022, a 180% increase over 2021’s budget of $125,000; and MVH restricted, $350,000 for 2022, a 16.67% increase over 2021’s budget of $300,000.
Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen presented three budgets. Her general budget was proposed at $179,370 for 2022, down 7.7% from 2021’s budget of $194,345; general obligation bond for the fire station, $260,700; and Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund, $75,000.
Thallemer presented his proposed 2022 mayor’s office general budget of $246,170, up from $234,909 in 2021.
The Common Council general budget for 2022 was proposed at $1,949,765, up 30.95% from 2021’s budget of $1,488,884. The budget includes nonprofit requests. Total requested was $228,705, but the cap is figured at $192,747 so cuts will need to be made.
A new budget is the American Rescue Plan fund. The city received half of what’s coming to it this year, and will receive the other half in 2022. The current estimated payment to the fund is $3,420,000.
The Economic Development Income Tax budget was proposed at $2,142,622, down 6% from the 2021 budget of $2,284,000. Of the budget, $750,000 is for the Parks offices relocation plan.
The riverboat fund is proposed at $250,000 for 2022, the same as 2021. Half of that is budgeted for demolitions.
The cumulative capital development fund has a proposed 2022 budget of $505,000, down 37.3% from 2021’s $805,000. Thallemer said most of the funding will go toward stormwater projects.
The last budget presented Monday during the 3-1/2-hour Council meeting was for the EDIT Revolving Loan Fund, a new budget, at $50,000.
The RLF will house the funds that are part of the incentive for Nextremity Solutions to be located the Warsaw Tech Park. As long as Nextremity meets its goals, the city will provide $50,000 a year for five years.
