Finance director says draft capital improvement plan distributed; committee notes higher interest income and budget timeline

The finance director told the Finance Advisory Committee that the draft 2026–2030 capital improvement plan has been distributed to the village board and that the committee will begin discussing salary/benefit and operating budgets at the August meeting. The director reminded members that state law requires tax bills to be mailed in December and that the village typically approves its budget at the November meeting so the county can process tax bills in time for early December mailings.

Members discussed year‑to‑date financial results and noted that interest income has risen compared with low rates in prior years. Staff said the budget has been conservative on investment income because rates can fluctuate; the village had previously budgeted smaller interest income and staff prefers to use fund balance proceeds for large capital rather than borrow. The finance director said the village has used $123,000 of accumulated fund balance toward capital and that two years ago the operating budget had included $45,000 of investment income but current adopted operating assumptions are lower.

Committee members asked whether to adjust budget estimates for a higher interest environment; staff responded the current approach is to leave the budget conservative and rely on fund balance to absorb variability so the village need not borrow as much for new buildings. No budget adoption occurred at the meeting; the item was informational and the committee scheduled detailed budget work for August and November timeline reminders.