The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The first of two municipal budget hearings was held virtually March 10 by the Township Council.
During the hearings, the Township’s various department heads appear to present their proposed 2025 budgets. Council members are given the chance to question the department heads about their asks.
Township Manager Robert Vornlocker then takes the department proposals to create the final Township budget that he will present to the Council for introduction later this month and a public hearing and final approval in April.
Here are the department’s proposals, as presented by Vornlocker:
Human Resources: $137,600, a decrease of $615 from the 24 budget of $138,215.
“There’s just some minor adjustments … a $1,000 decrease in medical expenses, including physicals, and some slight increases for professional association dues and other contractual items,” Vornlocker said.
Purchasing: $118,245, an increase of $4,345.
“The bulk of that in postage at $3,885 with a slight adjustment of $460 for conferences and meetings,” Vornlocker said.
“Postage is up because the Postal Service increased the postal rates,” Cindy Belanger, the Township’s Purchasing Administrator, told the Council.
In response to a question from Councilman Alex Kharazi, Vornlocker said, “we have to mail tax bills and water bills and all of those other bills and correspondence that’s mandated to come from the town, so it’s primarily our required items to be mailed.”
Municipal Court: $32,300, an increase of $200.
“There was a $3,000 decrease in printing and binding, a $3,000 increase for professional consultant and specialized services, and a $200 increase in books and publications,” Vornlocker said.
Keila Martinez, the Court Administrator, told the Council that the professional consultant increase is for interpreters. She said the decrease in printing and binding is due to the fact that police officers are writing electronic tickets.
Court Prosecutors: $86,900 for principal, alternate, and associate prosecutors, no change from last year.
Assessor: $117,700, a $5,500 decrease.
“There was actually an increase in the line for postage and express charges,” Vornlocker said. “There’s more postage for those of you who saw the other mention of postage. There is a $600 decrease in printing and binding, a $1,000 decrease in conference and meetings, a $1,000 decrease in education and training, and a $100 increase in professional association and dues, and a $50 decrease in other equipment and supplies.”
“The printing and binding, they no longer print the tax list for us,” Assessor Richard Carabelli told the Council. “It’s all digital, so saved a couple dollars there, and some of the conference fees and education, since we’re short a deputy assessor, obviously we won’t incur those expenses, at least momentarily.”
Recreation: Vornlocker told the Council that there are changes in this year’s recreation budget.
“The 2024 budget for recreation was at $105,530, that included all of the other expense budget items, the general fund budget items for the youth center last year,” he said. “The youth center has now been split out.”
“There is an overall reduction between the two departments from that $105,530, but the recreation budget currently sits at $68,730,” Vornlocker said.
Senior Transportation: $94,271.84. a 2 percent increase from last year.
Franklin Township Youth Center: $96,007.
“When added to the recreation budget for 2025, there’s still a significant decrease in the (operating expense) budget, and that has much to do with moving the youth center into their own budget,” Vornlocker said.
Planning: $186,250, which is flat on the budget of $186,250 from 2024.
“There’s just a minor shuffling of funding, an additional $5,000 moved from professional and consulting services to legal services,” Vornlocker said. “So legal now at $130,000 over $125,000 and a reduction from $55,000 to $50,000 for professional, consultant, and specialized services. The remainder of the budget remains the same.”
Engineering: $141,345 and it is flat on the 2024 budget at the same number.
“The bulk of this is in professional, consulting, and specialized services, which is the contract for our township engineering services,” Vornlocker said.
Environmental Commission: “The environmental commission shows an increase of $4,400,” Vornlocker said. “That increase is reflected in other contractual items. That is the contract with Kenyon planning for the sustainability officer position that serves the environmental commission.”
Historic Commission: $1,000, no increase.
Economic Development: $15,500, no increase.
Construction Code: $391,775, no increase
“The entire budget for the operation of the construction code department is done within the construction code department as the Department of Community Affairs also requires a separate budget to detail all of the expenses related to construction, the Uniform Construction Code Office, so that it has a direct relationship to fees charged and collected for the various permits issued by the department,” Vornlocker said.
Fire Prevention: $7,910, a decrease of $1,071 from $8,981.
“The reason for the decrease was last year we got a new fire code, so we had to purchase the books, the code books for everybody, and that was the decrease,” John Hauss, the Director of Fire Prevention, told the Council.
Information Technology: $692,095, an increase of $201,794, with $192,544 of that $201,000 in the software licensing line.
“There’s more purchases that were made last year that we have to continue to be at the top tier for cyber insurance,” Krista Hegedus, the Township’s Information Technology Specialist, told the Council. “But also, all of the software has increased about 10 percent across the board. So, that’s mainly why the increase.”
Information Technology Capital: Six-year capital plan.
“There’s $85,000 requested here for computer, printer, server, iPad replacement program,” Vornlocker said. “That’s an annual replacement program for end-of-life hardware.”
“Server room UPS refurbishment updates at $50,000,” he said. That’s basically replacement of battery backup units, Hegedus said.
“I’m actually looking into getting all of them on the maintenance plan because a battery goes down and hardware will go down,” she said. “So there are some at the police station that did go down and we had to replace.”
There’s also a “telephone system upgrade at $75,000,” she said. “Hardware and software are all out end-of-life come August of this year.”
Other items in that budget are $75,000 for security camera upgrades, $60,000 for the municipal wireless network upgrade, $75,000 for expansion to the Wi-Fi network serving the municipal building and the gazebo, $15,000 for gazebo lighting, $2,500 for iPads for the Recreation Department, and $30,000 for a recording system for municipal court.
Township Clerk: $61,819, which is a $13,615 increase over 2024.
Vornlocker said the bulk of that increase, about $12,000, is for professional consultant and specialized services.
“That is for the preservation and imaging of our vital statistics books,” Township Clerk Ann Marie McCarthy told the Council. “S”ome of them are in really bad shape and they’re permanent.”
Township Council: $20,298, which is a $958 decrease from 2024.
Elections: An increase of $2,800 from $37,000 in 204 to $39,800 in 2025, with increases in printing and binding and other contractual, which is renting the Armory for elections.
The next budget hearing is set for 7 p.m. on March 18, which is when the bulk of the capital requests will be made.
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