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| Sam Yingling |
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| Tom Brust |
At its monthly meeting on Monday May 9th, 2011, the Avon Township Board voted to cut its annual operating budget by approximately 22%. This reduction goes into effect immediately.
These spending cuts – made in collaboration with Avon Township Highway Commissioner Tom Brust –follow a measure by the Avon Township Board in December 2010 to cut its tax levies by approximately 7.2%. The largest spending reduction comes from the Highway Funds by approximately 30%, followed by the Township funds by approximately 5.8%.
“Since I’ve been Highway Commissioner I’ve been able to reduce expenditures, renegotiate various fees and service agreements, as well as eliminate unneeded spending and taxation,” stated Avon Township Highway Commissioner Tom Brust. Much of the reductions come from the beginning of the phasing out of the Road and Bridge levy. “Commissioner Brust and I agree that the Road and Bridge levy is archaic and must be abolished. We have already begun that process and hope to eliminate this tax in the next levy cycle, “ Yingling further stated, “Additionally, these spending cuts puts Avon Township on the right footing to reduce other levies next year.” Yingling stressed that cuts were made without any reduction in Township services.
“It’s incomprehensible to me that Avon Township is one of only a few local governing entities that are reducing taxes. I commend those taxing entities that also reduced their levies or at the least froze them. I do call into question those entities that opted to increase their levies during these difficult times. Other taxing bodies in Lake County either don’t understand the financial burden facing our residents or are afraid to make the tough decision to get-by with less. To me there’s no option, especially when you consider the huge cash reserves that some of these entities have such as the County and other Townships,” Yingling concluded.
3 comments:
This is excellent considering Lake County added $4.8M to their budget on the backs of county residents.
Tax bills went up this year AGAIN. Year after year our property tax bills goes up at a greater rate than CPI.
85% of voters didn't vote in April 2011..... you know, the election that has a direct relationship to your property tax bill and I guarantee you more than 15% are complaining.
Just curious ... how will the Highway Department function once they've eliminated their levy? Do they have a big surplus, or do they have no roads to maintain?
@ Bystander. Township Highway Commissions often have more than one levy. I know that is the case in Avon Township. They're probably talking about eliminating one of several levies.
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