For the past six years, the Addison Township budget has been able to stay out of the red and this year is no exception.
Township officials voted unanimously to approve the 2015-16 budget at the March 16 regular board meeting.
‘I think we’ve proven that we can manage the township’s money effectively and we certainly watch every penny,? said Addison Township Supervisor Bruce Pearson. ‘The proof is in the pudding on this one because this budget is kind of like all the other budgets that we’ve worked within our means.?
Pearson noted that they ‘work very hard on the budget.?
‘We start in January (and) by the time we reach the end of March, we’ve had several open meetings on it and everybody on the board has spoken their piece on it,? he added. ‘So we hash through and by the end of March we have a complete budget.?
The general fund is approximately $3.5 million, which includes the cost for the new township hall ($2.3 million) and a 2 percent raise for all employees ($6,800), which is in accordance with the increase to the cost of living, according to Pearson.
The budget also has $91,000 for Parks & Rec., approximately $899,000 for fire operating, $521,000 for fire capital and $1.0 million for police protection through the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
‘When we went through that bad recession everybody else had to put millages on (for police and fire), we never did,? Pearson said. ‘We worked within our budget.?
He noted that the police budget lost between 30 to 40 percent in one year during the recession and now almost to a ‘break-even? point as the economy has started to increase slightly. ‘It takes a while to get all of that (money) back,? he said.
Pearson also pointed out that the township has new residential building going on, which helps brings more tax revenue to the township and helps balance the budget. He’s just glad to see that Addison isn’t ‘in the red.?
‘If we didn’t take all of those extra measures (during the recession), we would be like everybody else and we would be in a deficit,? he said. ‘We took all those extraordinary measures ahead of time and we never got into trouble.?