Plain City officials are working to ensure the village’s 2024 budget reflects council’s goals and lessons they’ve learned from other areas.
Village Administrator Haley Lupton emphasized the 2024 budget is currently just a draft, but she wanted to allow council members time to “digest” preliminary numbers and speak with them about what staff seeks to achieve with the budget.
Through budget reviews with staff members and the Personnel and Finance Committee, Lupton said she is working on forming “pillars” that the 2024 budget will abide by.
While council members have not yet finalized goals for next year, Lupton said she reflected on council’s 2023 goals and related conversations while drafting the budget.
She said she feels it aligns with bigger picture goals like improving connectivity throughout Plain City, bolstering public safety and increasing the amount of and bettering public spaces.
Along with council’s goals, Lupton said she is hopeful the budget will reflect advice and lessons from communities facing similar growth challenges and opportunities.
The village administrator said she recently attended a conference hosted by the International City/County Management Association and took away several points relevant to next year’s budget planning.
She said ICMA generally allows for opportunities to learn from large cities like Austin, Texas and Detroit, Michigan, but this year, she also heard from officials with villages and cities ranging in population from 1,200 to 40,000.
Lupton said the conference showed her that “the smaller the budget, the more we have to adapt.”
Since the village operates on a comparatively smaller budget and does not have a large surplus of capital funding, Lupton said it is typical to adjust the budget throughout the year with supplemental appropriations.
Lupton also said she feels most small communities use county resources.
Although she acknowledged that there will be a period of adjustment while regionalizing water and sewer services with Madison County, Lupton said she feels Plain City is ahead of the curve in doing so.
The last ICMA takeaway she shared was, “when you invest in yourself, others will invest in you.”
Lupton said the Uptown streetscape projects funded by the village have encouraged private investment and redevelopment in the area.
She said this concept will be reflected in proposals within the 2024 budget to continue investing in Uptown improvements.
As part of her overview, Lupton noted that she is projecting a 3% increase in income and property tax revenue although that will be updated because it is “very, very conservative.”
Zoning fees continue to bring “high revenue,” she added.
Likewise, impact fees are “very strong.” Lupton said revenue generated by the fees will begin to be allocated to specific projects next year.
As far as parks and recreation, Lupton said the Pastime Park Campground has generated approximately $285,000 so far this year. She noted that the village is planning for the number to decrease next year because they are unsure how the new policy limiting campground stays to six months will affect reservations.
The pool is also “right on track” with projections, including concessions. Lupton said the 2024 budget does set aside funding for an aquatics feasibility study.
Due to regionalizing water and sewer services, Lupton said the village will “have some revenue to make up.”
Lupton said she plans to give another budget presentation to council with more details at its next meeting on Oct. 23.
Then, she intends to have the final budget come before council and be voted upon in November.