Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Appropriation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Roscoe trustees approve tentative 2025 budget after extended debate over contingencies and "unassigned" items
Summary
After a lengthy discussion about contingency accounts and line-item 'unassigned' or 'other anticipated' expenses, the Village of Roscoe Board of Trustees voted to approve a tentative FY2025 budget and appropriation and to increase the land-acquisition line to $200,000, with the added dollars moved from contingency and other sources.
The Village of Roscoe Board of Trustees on March 4 approved a tentative fiscal year 2025 budget and appropriation after extended discussion about contingency accounts and line-item entries labeled “unassigned” or “other anticipated expenses.” Trustees also directed staff to increase the proposed land-acquisition allotment to $200,000, with the additional funds to be moved from contingency and other budget lines before final approval.
Board members spent more than two hours discussing how the village had presented the budget in the new ClearGov system and what the labels “unassigned” and “additional anticipated expenses” mean. Joe, a village staff member in finance, said the entries are a planning tool intended to show how department totals are built rather than separate accounts: “Contingencies are true contingencies,” Joe said, explaining that contingency amounts are intended for unforeseen expenses and calculated as a percentage of departmental budgets.
Trustee Stacy raised concerns about the size of the unassigned amounts. “I just didn’t like having that much money floating around out there without any real definition of where it was going,” Stacy said, pressing staff to provide more itemization and historical context. Chief Sam (police) described how departments use sub‑line items to build to a single account total—for example, training and seminars for the police department was presented as a $64,500 account built from a number of anticipated courses and an additional $17,000 placeholder for other expected training costs.
Staff and trustees agreed the new budgeting system gives better transparency but that the first year of converting to ClearGov produces unfamiliar formatting and requires trustee training. Joe and other staff said they can provide invoice-level backups and past-year listings on request, but that some historical data will not align exactly because prior entries were not consistently coded.
On the primary motion, the board approved the tentative budget and appropriation with the understanding that staff will move additional funds into the land acquisition line so it totals $200,000 and that the published tentative budget for the public hearing will reflect that change. Trustee roll call during the final vote included Wright, Saima, Eddie, Babcock, Malco and Buck voting yes (see actions array). Trustees said the tentative approval allows the village to publish the budget and hold the required public hearing ahead of final adoption at a subsequent meeting.
The board directed staff to provide more detailed backups and training on the ClearGov presentation before final adoption, and staff said they would supply invoice and account histories on request and continue working to standardize account coding.
