Holly department heads issue second quarter budget report

HOLLY, Michigan – Holly Village Council members didn’t have much to say last week regarding a 15-page second quarter budget report.  Without any discussion or questions for department heads, council members approved the report in a vote of 7-0 during their meeting held on Jan. 24.

The multi-section report was written by village department heads and served as a compilation of budget figures exceeding 50 percent for the Building Department, the village of Holly offices, police and fire departments, the Waste Water Treatment Plant, and the Department of Public Works.


Building Department
Building Official Jeff Wren reported that operating supplies for the Building Department are currently 16 percent over budget.

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Jeff Wren

“This fund is currently over-budget because of non-budgeted items being taken from this account, namely computer upgrade, technician time, monitor for volunteer computer and website hosting,” Wren wrote.

Additionally, Wren reported that the Building Department is over-budgeted for the Vehicle Fuel Fund, blaming it on a broken fuel gauge that left him with an empty gas take on two separate occasions. “I have run out of gas twice now, so I put gas in the vehicle every other week,” he wrote. “I am currently working on getting the gauge repaired so this fund should even out once the repair has been made.”

Clerk’s Office
Clerk/Treasurer Cathrene Behrens reported that the village office is over-budgeted for office supplies, due to the cost of print toners, ink and copy paper. Behrens said the line item would be brought under control by using monies from several other lines in the clerk’s department that are under budget.

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Clerk/Treasurer Cathrene Behre...

Additionally, Behrens reported that she is over-budgeted in the Print/Publications fund due to a higher than usual amount of publications that have been necessary during the current fiscal year.

Department of Public Works
DPW Director Brian Klaassen’s portion of the second quarterly budget report accounted for four pages of facts and figures pertaining to parks, the cemetery, building and grounds, public works, major and local streets, and sewer and water funds.

Parks
Klaassen reported that the utilities fund for the Parks Department is currently at 64 percent. “The bathrooms and pavilions are not used during the winter so this account should be back in budget by next quarter,” he said.

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Brian Klaassen

Equipment and vehicle charges are over by 67 percent due to the pavilion project at Lakeside Park. Klaassen said the numbers will align as soon as payment is received through the Community Development Block Grant program.


Building and Grounds
Klaassen said project costs are currently 21 percent  over due to the fact that a few items were erroneously charged to this account. Klaassen said he will work with Behrens to resolve the issue.

Public Works Department
Uniforms, Klaassen said, are currently over by 30 percent.  “Clothing allowances per the contract were taken from this account by mistake,” Klaassen’s report reads.  Similarly, equipment supplies are over by 83 percent. “Due to some changes from elimination of the motor pool account, this item is over-budgeted,” Klaassen said. Klaassen said he will also be resolving both of these issues with Behrens.

Per the accounting regulations of GASB 54, the village’s Motor Pool fund is now under the umbrella of the village’s General Fund, and will now appear as a line item in each individual department budget.

Labor charges for the Public Works Department are over by 305 percent. “This line is over due to accounting changes,” Klaassen said. “A budget amendment will be needed.”

Major and Local Streets
Operating supplies for the Major Streets fund is currently at 58 percent as new signs were purchased for Saginaw and Maple Streets per the new village ordinances. Contractual expense for the fund is currently at 66 percent. Klaassen said Oakland County performed annual maintenance during this quarter, and the village was billed for stop light maintenance.

Operating supplies for the Local Streets fund is currently at 62 percent. “A majority of winter supplied are bought during the second and third quarter of the budget cycle for this line item,” Klaassen reported.


Sewer and Water
The Communications line item for the Sewer Fund is currently at 79 percent. Klaassen justified the expenditure, saying it represents a one-time per year expense to Mission of $4,579.17 for the alarm system on the lift stations. Additionally, Klaassen said some of the expenses for the village’s new website were taken from this line item.

Klaassen said overtime for the village Water fund is at 79 percent due to a couple of main breaks and service breaks, requiring extra overtime.

Fire Department
Chief Steve  McGee said the Duty Pay Fire Department fund is currently 56 percent expended. “We will continue to watch it and make internal adjustments to the budget so the fund balance is not affected,” he said.

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Chief Steve McGee

The Operating Supplies/Medical fund is currently 53 percent expended. “We decreased this line item $2,000 for the current fiscal year, and will continue to watch and adjust in the next quarter.”

McGee said the budget is extremely tight, but expects to meet the approved budget as outlined by the Village Council.

Police Department
Chief Elena Danishevskaya began her report by reminding council members that her department had recently endured a budget cut of $30,500 per their directive prior to the Marsha Powers lawsuit settlement.

“As you know, we have a very lean budget already,” she wrote. “I have added the amounts of reductions into appropriate line items to accurately represent where we stand with the reductions.” Danishevskaya said the $30,500 budget reduction brings the department to 52 percent of its allotted budget.

Danishevskaya said the department is currently at 55 percent on the line item of vehicle fuel.

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Chief Elena Danishevskaya

“This line item is dictated by fuel prices, which have been fairly good,” she said. Danishevskaya said the village’s recent switch to another credit card provider will allow the department to take advantage of a discount for early payment. “We are going to take advantage of those savings to help us save monies in this line item,” she wrote.

Danishevskaya reported that her department is 77 percent over for the Uniforms line item.  “Because this line item was reduced by approximately 50 percent due to the mandated reduction, we are over in this line item,” the report said.

The department’s Crimestoppers of Michigan and the Michigan Chiefs of Police memberships are 243 percent over budget, Danishevskaya reported.  Again, Danishevskaya referenced the mandated budget cuts, saying the line item had been reduced by 70 percent, and was the reasoning for the overage.

ACT 302 Expenditures, Danishevskaya said, is only 3 percent over budget. “The state of Michigan gives the village a certain amount which is based upon full time police officer equivalent, and we pay that amount to the Law Enforcement Officer Regional Training Consortium in Flint,” she said. “We have paid all of our dues for this fiscal year.”  

Additionally, the department is currently at 57 percent for PA 78 expenditures. Again, Danishevskaya said the village of Holly receives a check twice a year which is mandated to be used for dispatch training and related items only.

Danishevskaya said funding for these two line items will balance out after the department receives the appropriate payments from the state.

Dispatcher Overtime, Danishevskaya reported, is nearly 3 percent over budget.  With a budget of $17,725, Danishevskaya said the department is currently $501.16 over budget on this item.

“We had two part time dispatcher openings which significantly reduced our ability to fill open shifts and summer vacation,” she explained in her report, adding that those shifts are traditionally filled by part time dispatchers. Danishevskaya said the department hired two dispatchers, but that one had not been able to complete the training cycle.  The second dispatcher has completed training and is currently in the dispatch rotation, she said. “We believe that with this additional dispatcher, we will have minimal shifts to fill.”



Waste Water Treatment Plant
Director for Holly’s Waste Water Treatment Plant, Tim Stallcup said the majority of line items in his budget are below the 50 percent mark.

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Tim Stallcup

“The majority of the line item overruns are under personnel expenses (wages, fringes, medical and retirement) were not projected by me for this fiscal year,” he wrote. “The bottom line in personnel expenses is currently over 5.5 percent of $8,808.”  Stallcup recommended moving the necessary money from another line item later in this budget year to allow those affected line items to balance.

“Overall, the WWTP looks excellent considering the bottom line is at 47.5 percent or $12,396 in the black,” Stallcup said. “The remainder of the budget year looks favorable barring any major mechanical failures.”