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Romeo trustees debate budget trade-offs as forecast shows multimillion-dollar capital shortfall
Summary
At an April 22 meeting, staff presented a 2026 general fund and municipal street forecast showing $4.4M projected reserves for 2026 but multimillion-dollar capital gaps — including an estimated $2M for parking lots and a $6M roads program — prompting trustees to weigh special assessments, debt and grants to fund work.
At its April 22, 2025 meeting, the Village of Romeo Board of Trustees heard a detailed presentation from staff on the 2026 general fund and a five-year forecast showing the village can meet near-term needs but faces substantial future capital shortfalls.
Danielle, the staff presenter, summarized revenue and expense assumptions and the capital requests. "So, as I stated, we're going to go through the general fund and municipal street fund today," she said, and later warned that adding the $2 million parking-lot project and the $6 million roads program would put the general fund out of policy reserves.
Why it matters: trustees must balance operational stability with mounting capital needs. Danielle told the board the general fund budget recommendation for 2026 includes a modest 3% property-tax revenue increase assumption, and the county’s preliminary reporting indicates no rollback this year — a factor that could raise taxable value estimates. She also noted state-shared and community-stabilization revenues are expected to remain roughly flat.
Key details from the presentation: - Capital requests highlighted: Village Hall repairs ($55,000 total, including $30,000 for a new roof and $25,000 for windows); Police Department capital (~$96,000 for rifles, vehicle graphics, tasers and Axon cameras split across fiscal years); Fire contract with Bruce Township projected to rise about 6% to roughly $826,000; Public Works capital requests of about $700,000 (including $150,000 for a new salt barn, $500,000 for a DPW driveway/parking area and $50,000 for doors/floor drain repairs). - Forecast and reserves: staff projected a recommended use of fund balance of about $281,000 for 2026 and an ending general fund balance of about $4.4 million (down from $4.6M projected for 2025). The five-year forecast assumes roughly 3% inflation per year and runs through 2030.
Board debate and options: trustees pressed on how to fund larger projects. Danielle said the general fund can absorb the near-term capital in the 2026 proposal, but "there's no way that the general fund can support" the full $6 million road program without depleting reserves. Trustees discussed alternatives including: - Spreading projects across multiple years or phasing work; - Seeking alternate revenue such as special assessments or a Headley-style public safety/assessment millage; - Issuing debt or using low-interest financing to spread capital costs; and - Aggressively pursuing grants, with trustees noting grants can be competitive and not guaranteed.
Trustees also raised operational questions about purchasing choices, bidding and how departments estimate costs; staff said some items are high-level estimates from the SEMCOG study and departmental requests and that more detailed bids or engineering work would be needed before final commitments.
Next steps: the board set a budget workshop for Wednesday, April 30, 2025, to continue reviewing options and agreed to revisit the municipal street fund and any proposed millage changes after additional department and cemetery-board input.
