Poland scales back plan for U.S. 224

By Denise Dick

POLAND — Even the village isn’t immune from the economic difficulties sweeping the rest of the country.

Village council has scaled back a plan to install sidewalks, street lights and benches and plant trees on the stretch of U.S. Route 224 from the U.S. Post Office to Sunrise Assisted Living.

“We just don’t have the money now,” said Joe Mazur, council president.

The scaled-back version calls for just sidewalks.

The village received a federal transportation enhancement grant administered through Eastgate Regional Council of Governments to cover the bulk of the project. The change takes the total cost from about $186,900 down to about $73,000 and the village’s portion down from $64,980 to $30,600.

It’s a reimbursement grant, though, so the village would have to front the total and receive the federal funds later.

Mazur said there were concerns that if the village rejected the grant, received last summer, it wouldn’t receive similar grants in the future.

Mayor Tim Sicafuse said that like much of the rest of the country, village revenues are down while expenses either remained the same or increased.

“Last year gas was up. Salt, which we had to buy this year, was more expensive,” he said.

“We’ve seen increases in gas, asphalt, utilities — they’re all higher,” added Linda Srnec, clerk-treasurer.

Srnec said this marks the first year that the village has had to dip into its carry forward, or reserve account, for general operations.

The carry forward this year for the general fund is $345,559, and the village also has investments totaling about $1 million.

Village council recently voted to transfer $90,000 from its investment fund to cover the local match, about $17,000, for three other grants to install culverts.

The village’s street fund could be down to zero, Srnec said, and the village will have to draw from its investment fund to cover costs of the first quarter of 2010.

Revenues coming from the state are down as well as interest income, Srnec said.

Receipts are projected to be lower including property tax receipts. If the economy improves, those receipts might improve, Srnec said.

Right now, though, receipts are projected at $673,703 and expenditures for 2009 have been budgeted at $811,685 — a difference of $137,982.

The village will have to dip into its carry-forward amount to cover the difference. That reduces the carry forward to $207,577.

The village also has historically relied on carry-forward funds to pay expenses for the first quarter of the next year.

“One thing we don’t do here is budget our estate taxes” or money received from the estates of residents who die, Srnec said. “That may save us.”

You can’t predict the amount from year to year, she said. Last year, the village received $189,000 in estate taxes, $315,000 in 2007, and $116,000 in 2006.

denise_dick@vindy.com