Meadowtown council agrees to remove $30,000 depreciation placeholder from proposed budget

Meadowtown — At a public hearing on the proposed fiscal-year budget, town officials and staff agreed to remove a $30,000 depreciation carryover line that officials said remained in the draft due to a system carryover.

Moderator opened the hearing and described the budgeting approach: staff and council estimated revenues (including electricity and water) and categorized expenses by administration, roads, parks, cemeteries and utilities. “We are estimating what our income will be,” the Moderator said, describing the use of historical trends to project uncertain items such as energy costs.

The most contested line was a depreciation/loan placeholder of roughly $30,000 that an attendee questioned as unnecessary because the loans in question had been paid off. Staff agreed to investigate and to correct the entry. “It sounds like that was a carryover in the system and we’ll work to zero that out and we can make the proposal to seal that in the budget,” the Moderator said. Staff explained that the current period’s depreciation expense showed about $2,400 year to date but that the $30,000 figure appeared to be a prior-year carryover that should not remain in the final proposal.

Council and staff framed the change as an administrative correction rather than a policy decision. Staff said leaving the placeholder in the draft posed little immediate financial risk beyond an inflated line item, while removing it would cleanly reflect expected expenditures in the coming fiscal year. The Moderator noted that significant unbudgeted repairs — for example, major road or utility fixes — would still require a future public hearing and a reallocation proposal.

Other questions raised during the hearing included clarification on the town’s power procurement (a referenced vendor, ‘‘Dixie Power,’’ and a separate label described as ‘‘UN’’), and how the town handles donations and signage on town property. One speaker asked whether a $1,000 sign and related donations to a cemetery complied with town ordinances; staff said they would look up the applicable rules and report back.

After these exchanges, an attendee moved to close the public hearing on the budget and the motion was approved by voice vote. The council intends to incorporate the agreed administrative corrections — including zeroing out the depreciation carryover — before making a formal budget approval motion at a subsequent meeting.

The town’s budget year is set to begin July 1; staff will return with corrected line items and any additional clarifications requested during the hearing.