MONROE - Members of Monroe's Finance and Taxation Committee are trying to decide whether to use a scalpel, hatchet or a chainsaw to trim the 2009 budget.
The committee met Thursday night, for the fourth time in two weeks, to find another $375,000 in proposed cuts to the budget to stay at or under the state's maximum allowable increase of 2 percent.
At 8:20 p.m., committee members reached the amount to cut exactly. But members added another $114,000 to the list of possible cuts, ending up with a 1.98 percent overall increase.
"We're getting tough with the budget," Alderman Chuck Koch said about the some of the final cuts.
The committee is leaving it up to department heads to come back with good arguments for keeping items in.
"At 1.98, there isn't going to be much to put back in," Alderman Mark Coplien said.
The committee will review the budget at least once more before sending it out for publication by Oct. 29, before the full City Council can even consider voting on it.
Perhaps hardest hit was the capital outlay account, funds set aside for future equipment and vehicle purchases; cuts reached almost $225,000.
Members of the committee agreed that departments would have to take a break from saving money into their capital accounts, especially if it's for new vehicles.
New sidewalk installation, at a cost of $100,000, was cut. Members breathed easier when Mayor Ron Marsh said $30,000 for sidewalk repairs would remain.
Spring Cleanup Days are still on the chopping block, although calculations determined it would save only $50,000, over and above regular labor costs.
The city's funding for Green County Development Corporation also may disappear from the budget. Based on population, the cost savings would reach $29,800. And Monroe Main Street will get its funding from the Tax Increment District #7, rather than from the general tax levy.
Committee members closely shaved other departments of overtime and summer help pay, but were reluctant to cut any regular payroll costs.
Increased health insurance costs have been a troubling line item in every budget since the beginning of the budget meetings. While Marsh brought one option to the table, to increase the city's self-insured amount, and risk, by $50,000, he told the committee to hold off making a decision, and to expect quotes on another plan or two soon.
As the night wore on, committee members found it more and more difficult to scrape away from the budget.
Cuts began to dwindle to $2,000 or $3,000 per account, with members even noting that some budgets had been stripped bare enough.
One budget that came in for review Monday night was a model example. Fire Chief Daryl Rausch brought in his department's budget of about $500,000, with an increase of only 0.02 percent, or $107.
"I would have liked personally to have kissed him," Alderman Thurston Hanson said, laughing.
The committee met Thursday night, for the fourth time in two weeks, to find another $375,000 in proposed cuts to the budget to stay at or under the state's maximum allowable increase of 2 percent.
At 8:20 p.m., committee members reached the amount to cut exactly. But members added another $114,000 to the list of possible cuts, ending up with a 1.98 percent overall increase.
"We're getting tough with the budget," Alderman Chuck Koch said about the some of the final cuts.
The committee is leaving it up to department heads to come back with good arguments for keeping items in.
"At 1.98, there isn't going to be much to put back in," Alderman Mark Coplien said.
The committee will review the budget at least once more before sending it out for publication by Oct. 29, before the full City Council can even consider voting on it.
Perhaps hardest hit was the capital outlay account, funds set aside for future equipment and vehicle purchases; cuts reached almost $225,000.
Members of the committee agreed that departments would have to take a break from saving money into their capital accounts, especially if it's for new vehicles.
New sidewalk installation, at a cost of $100,000, was cut. Members breathed easier when Mayor Ron Marsh said $30,000 for sidewalk repairs would remain.
Spring Cleanup Days are still on the chopping block, although calculations determined it would save only $50,000, over and above regular labor costs.
The city's funding for Green County Development Corporation also may disappear from the budget. Based on population, the cost savings would reach $29,800. And Monroe Main Street will get its funding from the Tax Increment District #7, rather than from the general tax levy.
Committee members closely shaved other departments of overtime and summer help pay, but were reluctant to cut any regular payroll costs.
Increased health insurance costs have been a troubling line item in every budget since the beginning of the budget meetings. While Marsh brought one option to the table, to increase the city's self-insured amount, and risk, by $50,000, he told the committee to hold off making a decision, and to expect quotes on another plan or two soon.
As the night wore on, committee members found it more and more difficult to scrape away from the budget.
Cuts began to dwindle to $2,000 or $3,000 per account, with members even noting that some budgets had been stripped bare enough.
One budget that came in for review Monday night was a model example. Fire Chief Daryl Rausch brought in his department's budget of about $500,000, with an increase of only 0.02 percent, or $107.
"I would have liked personally to have kissed him," Alderman Thurston Hanson said, laughing.