Only one resident spoke during last week’s public hearing regarding Oxford Village’s proposed 2018-19 budget, but her message was quite clear.

Rose Bejma, who worked for the village for 30 years and served on council from 2014-16, wants to see some money spent on improving the municipality’s deteriorating roads.

She told council that residents are wondering “how come their streets aren’t being taken care of?”

Given the proposed budget has “a nice healthy fund balance,” Bejma wants “to see some of that . . . at least put into engineering (work) to start some street projects.”

As of last week’s meeting, the village’s proposed general fund budget contains revenues and expenditures balancing at $1.93 million.

Under it, the general fund has a starting fund balance of $881,465, which equals 45.64 percent of the expenditures for the year.

The fund balance contains cash reserves that can be spent or saved at the village’s discretion. The Government Finance Officers Association recommends maintaining a minimum fund balance equal to two months of normal operations, which works out to approximately 17 percent.

Some council members agreed with Bejma.

“I think Ms. Bejma’s completely right,” said Councilman Erik Dolan. “We have roads that are disintegrating. The parking lot behind this building is an embarrassment.”

“I’m not happy that we aren’t doing anything as far as parking lots and roads (in the budget). I’m very unhappy with that. We haven’t in years That’s all you hear is complaints about that,” said village President Sue Bossardet.

The last two road projects the village did were in 2017 and 2014.

Last year, the village paid to have 5,100 feet of Lakeville Rd. resurfaced in conjunction with a larger Road Commission for Oakland County project.

In 2014, the village had 1,691 feet of W. Burdick St., from Ashley Way to S. Waterstone Dr. (which is in the township), reconstructed from subbase to surface. That project included lowering cemetery hill by up to 2 feet, installing concrete curb and gutter, making drainage improvements and widening the road from 24 to 27 feet.

Village Manager Joseph Madore pointed out to council that the proposed budget has $8,000 allocated under the major street fund to pay for engineering work related to the resurfacing of W. Burdick St. planned for 2019.

Madore told this reporter the plan is to use a mix of county money and village funds from the 2019-20 budget to mill off 2 inches of asphalt on W. Burdick St., from M-24 to Ashley Way, and resurface it.

During the hearing, Dolan expressed his belief the village needs to focus more on providing services to its residents and less on giving pay raises and purchasing new equipment.

“I do think . . . in the last couple years, we’ve been focused on personnel,” he said. “All the personnel in the organization have received raises.”

Given “the village exists for the taxpayers,” Dolan is concerned the municipality is “getting off track” when it comes to its primary responsibility, which is “to return services” to the public.

“I don’t believe the village offers that many services,” he said.

“Outside of the basic services (such as police and public works), we offer absolutely nothing to this community in terms of services,” Dolan continued.

Dolan is concerned the village is “not returning any value to the average citizen.”

“Every time I talk to a citizen, the question is why does the village even exist? What do we get that I wouldn’t get from the township? And I try and come up with an answer and an explanation, but I can’t,” he said.

Council is expected to adopt the 2018-19 budget at its 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 22 meeting.

The proposed budget is supported by the current property tax rate of 10.62 mills. That’s been the village rate since 2010.

One mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value.

In order to balance revenues and expenditures, Madore’s proposed budget calls for transferring $71,359 from the fund balance to help cover the village’s projected expenses in 2018-19.

That’s less than the $136,472 fund balance transfer contained in the proposed budget Madore originally presented on April 24, prior to council’s workshop sessions to review and tweak it.

“Some work on your end help shave that down,” the manager told council.