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Lisbon ends 2019 with less carryover than previous year

LISBON –The village general fund ended 2019 with a $58,492 carryover balance, about $26,000 less than the year before.

Fiscal Officer Tracey Wonner said there were several reasons for the decrease, starting with the fact there were 27 pay periods in 2019, and the village payroll averages $20,000 every two weeks.

Also, the village contributed $33,548 toward the resurfacing of Beaver Street and spent $14,000 for the Garfield Street project. “We’ve never spent more than $30,000 (on capital improvement projects) for as long as I’ve been here,” Wonner said.

Another factor was the continuing spike in police department overtime because of the difficulty in keeping officers. Police overtime was $15,122 last year “because of the turnover and not having enough officers,” she said.

Police overtime was $4,060 in 2016, when the turnover problem began, with the figure increasing to $13,600 in 2018. Voters in the November election approved a 0.5 percent increase in the village income, with 75 percent of the additional income earmarked for police pay raises to slow the loss of officers to other departments.

General fund spending last year totaled $1.58 million, an increase of $56,000. Revenue totaled $1.55 million last year, an increase of $57,000.

The biggest source of general fund revenue is the village’s 1.5 percent income tax, which went to 2 percent this year because of the voter-approved increase. The income tax generated $1.15 million in 2019, up $20,000 from the year before. The extra 0.5 percent is expected to generate an additional $383,000.

Wonnder said the village street department will benefit this year from an increase in the state gas tax enacted by the state legislature in 2019. The village received $95,000 in state gas tax money last year, with the figure expected to increase ro $155,000 in 2020.

The water and sewer departments are outside the general fund because they generate their own revenue in the form of user fees and assessments. Those departments spent a combined d $1.9 million last year, up about $100,000 from 2018. Wonner said the water and sewer departments ended the year with balances of $81,375 and $48,413 respectively.

Wonner also reported income from the community swimming pool was $19,846 last year, down $5,800 from 2018, which was due to lower attendance figures because of the unusually wet first half of the summer. Council took $19,750 from the general fund to subsidize pool operations.

Parking meter revenue and fine money totaled $33,076 last year, a $3,800 increase. What is left over after expenses goes toward the purchase of new police cruisers.

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