Highland board adopts 'tight' budget for 2012

The Highland Township Board of Trustees approved the township’s budget for 2012 at its last meeting.

While total revenue projected at approximately $2.14 million is down slightly from this year’s total revenue of $2.26 million, the township was able to balance the budget while having a bit left over.

“We had a slight revenue amount higher than we had anticipated. We’ve taken the additional funding and placed it in capital improvements,” said Supervisor Triscia Pilchowski.

A motion was also made to make an off-schedule payment to township staff — not including the elected officials or trustees. The off-schedule payment will consist of 1 percent of each employee’s pay, according to Pilchowski.

“It’s a small amount of money, and the board felt it was a way of showing the staff that we are grateful to them,” she said.

The top three sources of revenue for the township are the state shared revenue, property taxes, and franchise fee funding from Comcast.

The top three expenditures are the paving of North John Street, health care benefits, and township maintenance.

“We were very fortunate in seeing only a 0.2 percent increase in heath care costs. This is the reason why we were able to have a bit of revenue left over as we were anticipating double-digit increases,” Pilchowski said.

Also included in the budget was contract for 2012 Oakland County Sheriff’s Department police services. One major change is that there will no longer be a lieutenant manning the Highland Substation. There will also be one less deputy working out of the substation.

“We’re obviously not spending as much as last year,” Pilchowski said. “We are carving back on the budget. One thing is that we are very conservative in putting the budget together. I feel comfortable that we will be able to continue to roll over funds that we didn’t spend into our healthy fund balance.”

Highland’s fund balance currently stands at $1.28 million as of Sept. 30.

“It is reflective of the continued effort on the part of the township board and staff for bringing in a tight budget. We don’t spend more than we need to but continue to fulfill our responsibilities to the community,” Pilchowski said.