Budget & Finance Committee

MEETING MINUTES Village of Palmyra Budget Committee Meeting Tuesday October 7, 2025 100 W. Taft St. Village Hall Meeting Room 6:00 p.m. The meeting was called to order at 6:02 pm by Chairperson Wallace: Roll call: Wallace, Ball, Tucker- present. Also present: Tim Gorsegner, Scott Halbrucker, Stephanie Butler, Paul Blount, Mike Gartzke, and Laurie Mueller. Business 1. Discussion/possible action on 2026 budget requests for Village Departments. Public works dept.: Scott Halbrucker said he has gotten rid of True Green weed preventative for 2026 at the park. The committee looked at the payroll tab. Halbrucker said that his dept. is in line with the Rural Water wage survey. Everyone is fully certified except for 1 employee who will get a raise upon passing his tests in 2026. His other raises are at 3.6%. Police Budget: Paul Blount said that Penny lowered the raises down after the last committee meeting, some other line items were also reduced and that is the budget before them tonight. Fire/EMS: Mike Gartzke said that they interviewed 5-6 people for part-time positions. The raises for the FT fire/EMS were discussed. The committee decided to give a full raise at the beginning of the year rather than half of the raise and then the other half in June. There were a couple of expense lines that the committee felt might have been lowered too much. Blount will go back and make these adjustments. Rec. Dept.: Stephanie Butler said that she won’t know anything about the cost to get into the new baseball league next year until the meeting which is Oct. 19th. It could be as high as $140 per child but this would be offset with higher sign-up fees. Committee told Butler to reach out to the Town of Palmyra for her 2026 donation to make sure it is part of their budget. Her raise request was reviewed as well. Municipal Court: Clerk Mueller said she drafted a 4-month budget for court as she wasn’t getting anything from the judge. Some discussions took place. She is going to send it to Stephanie Wallace who will forward it to the judge, ask him to look at it and make any changes he feels necessary. Clerk/Treasurer Dept.: Trustee Tucker asked Mueller if Dee Dee’s wages were just for the 5 months that she will be here in 2026? Yes, said Mueller. Then discussion took place on whether this position really needs to be full-time. The Clerk worked up a couple of scenarios- FT at one wage and PT at another wage. It would definitely be a savings, and the new deputy would still be here more than the Morateck is now but just not enough to get FT benefits. The Committee agreed that Mueller should rework her budget so that the new deputy position would be PT. Library: Director Dexheimer couldn’t make the meeting, but Trustee Petruska was present. She is on the library board. She explained to the committee how important the library is to the community and what a great job Dexheimer has done since becoming the director. Because she has gotten the circulation up so much, she has been eligible for more money from Jefferson County, so why would the village punish her and not give her more money. She is asking for roughly $5600 increase over 2025. Maintenance of the building was discussed and the Clerk asked Petruska if the library board will allow Dexheimer to use LGIP funds or fund balance to do the repairs. It shouldn’t come out of each departments budget to maintain the building; this is a Village owned building. The Village Board should start looking into a maintenance plan for all village buildings. Committee member Tucker would like to give the library the additional $5600 for 2026 but Wallace is still concerned about the overall budget. No decisions made. Another meeting was set for Oct 16th at 6 pm. Wallace/Tucker motion to adjourn at 8:22 pm. All ayes-motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Laurie Mueller, Village Clerk/Treasurer Minutes approved without corrections on Oct. 20, 2025