This past Sunday evening, after a specially called public hearing, the Richfield town board voted unanimously to approve a newly revised budget that board members are touting as bottom-line. As a result of a previous public hearing earlier in the month where residents blasted the board for a nearly 36 percent increase in town spending, the most recent spending plan of $376,705 exemplifies a reduction of more than $190,000 from the previously proposed plan for the 2007 fiscal year of $570,055 for town spending alone. Town and highway budgets combined now total $416,260 compared to the previously proposed budget of $610,010.70. General fund dollars were used to reduce expenditures and reduce the final budget total. “After the flooding and the revaluation, we couldn’t do that to the residents,” said board member Barbara Petersen. “None of us were happy with the proposed budget.” Supervisor Larry Budro voiced concerns with the sharp cuts in the proposal, citing future possible flooding in the spring and the lack of reimbursement from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to date. “I’m not happy with this budget. “I suspect we’ll have more flooding in the spring but I hope we won’t. “If we do we won’t have any money for emergencies,” Budro said. FEMA has already responded with the release of monies totaling more than $90,000, but Budro pointed out that these funds were earmarked for repairs to be made in the coming budget year, not for reimbursement of tax dollars spent in response to the flooding this past summer. The current proposal represents a decrease from last year’s town spending plan of $418,087 and total town and highway spending plan of $457,658. “We had to do this,” Petersen said. “People were quite upset with us. This represents what the people want. We had to do something.”
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