GAYS MILS - Well, some things got done at the Gays Mills Village Board Meeting on Monday, December 2, and other things were discussed but not acted upon.
The board passed a General Budget calling for a balanced budget of $904,400 in revenues and expenditures.
The general fund expense less revenue other than the property tax is $698, 813. That requires a general fund required tax levy of $205,587,
The village mil rate is 5.85. That is how much taxes the village would take for $1,000 of assessed valuation. The county mil rate will be 7.60. The school district mil rate will be 8.32 and the tech school district mil rate will be 1.05. That makes the gross mil rate 22.81. More than the gross mil rate of 2024 at 2.18, However the village share of that mil rate decreased slightly from 5.87 in 2024 to 5.85.
Aside from unanimously passing the village budget, the board approved increasing the sewer rate $12.90 per thousand gallons starting on January 1, 2025. That increase will generate $30,000 more in revenue, which is needed to keep the sewer utility operating in the black. The monthly flat rate will not be increased for users, and that means the residential users will remain at $30 per month.
The village processes about 8.5 million gallon of sewage annually.
Another action the board took after meeting in closed session to discuss the swimming pool manager position was to return to open session and approve Danielle and Ron Strong as the new pool managers.
The board briefly discussed the situation of residents paying for half the cost of sidewalk replacement. Some favor letting the cost remain, while others believe the village pays for most sidewalk repaving now and residents should not pay half for sidewalks in front of their residences.
The current ordinance describes requiring payment for curbs and more in front of residences. Gays Mills Village President Harry Heisz urged the board to leave the language in the current ordinance, which makes the charges ‘optional’ for now.
In other business the Gays Mills Village Board:
• renewed the 2025 property and liability insurance policy with Tricor, with a $5,000 annual increase
• approved doing a Certified Survey Map on Old Gays Road as request by the Swiggums
• learned that companies are being sought for bids on swimming pool repairs
• learned that there continues to be problems with recently purchased village lawn mowers, and the village is pursuing getting the mowers running properly in the off-season
• passed a motion allowing the village to designate an area in the Gays Mills Mercantile Center parking lot to stop cars from being blocked in designated spaces.
• heard a review of work done at the North Crawford School with funds from the recently passed referendum
• Set Monday, January 6 for the next meeting
