Liberty officials explain efforts to trim ’10 budget

By LINDA M. LINONIS

linonis@vindy.com

LIBERTY

Government is getting smaller, said Pat Ungaro, township administrator, about the 2010 budget.

It was approved earlier this week by trustees Jodi Stoyak, Stan Nudell and Jason Rubin.

The 2010 budget of $7,384,406.87 demonstrates the downsizing. Ungaro said the 2002 budget was a little over $10 million. Ungaro said the township had to take action to live within its budget.

“There’s a hiring freeze,” he said, adding that overtime in all departments is being monitored.

He said that in recent years, four workers in the road department, four police officers and two administration employees have retired and not been replaced.

Nudell said he believed it is the trustees’ responsibility to “get costs down” and “live within our means.”

Ungaro said health-insurance costs, hovering between $750,000 and $800,000, have been reduced to $500,000 through a “creative program” of self-insurance through the same plan the township had. He said the township also has lowered its workers’ compensation figure from $350,000 to $250,000.

The trustees eliminated the music-in-the-park program at Church Hill Park, along with seasonal events for Halloween and Christmas. These may return if community sponsorship materializes.

Grass cutting also will be reduced at Churchill and Cedars cemeteries, ballparks near the administration building and Church Hill Park and the seven “welcome to Liberty Township” signs.

Ungaro said three factors have contributed to the figure for the 2010 budget. They are the recession in general, fewer estate taxes and cuts at the state level. He continued that growth in residential and commercial development will help the township’s bottom line.

Rubin compared running government to a business, reiterating the “living within a budget” concept.

Stoyak said the 2010 budget “is a lot less” than when she became a trustee in 2004. She said the Ohio Township Association recently alerted its members that the ways and means committee in the Ohio House of Representatives was looking to repeal the estate tax.

She also noted that the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals is seeking to reduce reimbursement of property taxes to local governments.