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Boardman budget proposal totals $18 million worth of appropriations
BOARDMAN
As the deadline nears for the township to approve permanent appropriations for 2015, the fiscal department has put together an $18.3 million budget for trustees to act on March 9.
The proposed budget includes spending for the township’s police, fire, road, zoning and administration departments and is on track with 2014 spending.
“It’s really business as usual in Boardman this year. ... It’s going to be really close to 2014,” said assistant fiscal officer George Platton.
The biggest chunk of that $18.3 million is for the police department.
“They get 47 percent of all money that comes into the township,” said fiscal officer William Leicht.
That adds up to a little more than $7.8 million, mostly for personnel costs. The police department also plans to spend $193,000 on new vehicles and lease payments, and $80,000 on new equipment such as stun guns and radios.
The next-biggest spender is the fire department, for which the proposed budget appropriates about $4.3 million. That includes nearly $500,000 for a new firetruck, but the township likely will not have to spend that since an insurance settlement is supposed to cover the cost of a new truck to replace one that was totaled in an accident last year.
An issue that previously caused concern for township trustees is a conciliator’s ruling late last year in favor of pay raises for firefighters, an expense that officials did not think the township could afford. The additional cost of the firefighters’ contract, however, has since been covered after the township left vacant the position of a firefighter who resigned.
The road department accounts for 15 percent of the budget, or about $2.5 million. That department will get new equipment and a new truck this year, at a total cost of $74,000.
Fiscal officers say they carefully monitor equipment purchases for all departments.
“We stay up to date on things that are absolutely necessary. You can’t ask our taxpayers to pay for things that aren’t necessary,” Leicht said. “This is only the equipment necessary to operate the township.”
The same goes for employees, Leicht said.
“There are no new employees. There will be employees hired as replacements,” he said. Employees who are up for promotions will not get them this year, he added.
The township employs 153 people in full- and part-time positions.
Zoning and administration departments account for the smallest portion of the budget, at 2 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Neither department plans to make any big purchases this year.
Platton said that while factors such as health care costs and cuts in state funding in recent years are always a concern, the township is in good shape financially.
“We’re always concerned about that,” Platton said. “We just have to tighten up even more.”
“We really try to live within our budget,” he said.
The township must adopt a permanent appropriations budget by the end of March.