LOWELLVILLE Village council adopts general fund budget

The mayor wants $75,000 in improvements at village hall.
LOWELLVILLE -- Council has adopted a $611,711 general fund budget for this year, compared with $590,000 last year.
The increase is partly because of projected increased real estate tax collections as a result of rising property values, Mayor Joseph Rossi said.
Council also adopted an $88,000 special fund budget Wednesday, about the same as last year, which comes from gasoline taxes and motor vehicle license fees. It funds the street department.
The budget does not assume an increase in income tax collections.
"There are some businesses throughout the village that seem to be getting a bad start because of the economy this year, so we don't want to project anything higher and then find out at the end of the year that we're going to be short," the mayor explained.
Raises included: The budget includes 3-percent raises for full-time employees, said Councilman Robert Coppola, finance committee chairman.
The mayor said he'd like to see $72,000 of unspent revolving loan fund monies used toward about $75,000 worth of improvements to the 1937-vintage village hall, including replacement of its leaky roof, four columns in its fa & ccedil;ade and the front doors, repair of the front steps and landing along with new carpet and paneling.
Describing it as a "windfall," the mayor said the $72,000 is separate from the village's general and special funds.
Council agreed to put the $72,000 into a contingency fund that could be used for improvements to village hall or whatever else council deems necessary.
State officials have said of the unspent money that the village must either "use it or lose it," the mayor said. "We can use it for whatever purpose we want," the mayor said.
"You're going to either do it now or really be saddled with a bad-looking building plus additional renovation later on that's more costly,'' the mayor said, calling conditions at the village hall deplorable.