Pecatonica Township pushes through procedure

Pecatonica Township pushes through procedure
By Chris Johnson
REPORTER
Fiscal years are operating cycles that don’t always align with calendar designation. Many times a new fiscal year begins after spring arrives, or with summer just around the corner. Often it begins with some business from the old fiscal year still looming. At this point, the Board of Trustees with Pecatonica Township is about on target to begin operations for the current fiscal cycle, and there is still some work to be done.
The new budget year began on April 1 and that means all the projects that have been scheduled for undertaking this year could commence, weather permitting, and completion of outstanding projects would be allowed to march towards finalization.
On Tuesday, April 16, the commission of leaders met with action taken towards the approval of fiscal year appropriations. Fiscal Year 2019 featured a request for account allowance to be built to an amount of $217,910 with $45,000 for contingency expense added into the equation. The total appropriation was listed at $252,110 for the current fiscal cycle. An itemized breakdown of this year’s request was presented to Trustees and citizen taxpayers in attendance.
Line items included $211,610 to be utilized by the General Town Fund, with $3,500 for the Audit Fund, $6,300 for the Insurance Fund and $30,700 for General Assistance. Expenditures were listed at $160,910 for Administration and $12,000 for the Cemetery Fund.
Building the accounts to an amount that might be needed is one of the major responsibilities of Township Trustees and the step was presented for approval. General budget information was also presented with that information to be stamped and put on file as permanent public record. If things weren’t done, according to State Statute, the Board would be a percentage of the fiscal year behind at onset, forcing a “catch-up” principle into place. That, in turn, would be viewed as potential disservice to taxpayers within the commission’s reach. The numbers from the Fiscal Year Budget were presented in open meeting with the body of leaders uncovering what was available and how it will be used. The money was spread around for use in capacity such as administrative, insurance and banking and general assistance.
The duties of the Township are to assure its citizens are taken care of and to assess and collect necessary dollars for annual operation. They also are tasked with making sure our area roads, that aren’t under municipal or county oversight, are managed and maintained. Township Road Commissioner Bruce Lizer had previously commented that once things start growing, the mowing cycle never ends in Pecatonica Township.
There will be many projects waiting for Lizer and Township Supervisor Joe Musso. Much of that work will take them to the sides of the road for regular maintenance duties. There will be a big chunk of budget dollars being used for projects such as fixing roads, mowing, weeding and sweeping, and probably many more dollars still needed to truly accomplish everything on the agenda this fiscal year.
Sharing the dollars available to assure everything slated for completion is handled was a major undertaking for the leadership board. Trustees will now be tasked with maintaining accounts over the fiscal year and assuring that monies spent are taken from the correct accounts with documentation reviewed at each monthly get together.
The Pecatonica Township Board meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 7pm with citizens encouraged to speak their mind and inform Trustees and the Township Supervisor of issues and concerns that require the attention of the executive council. There is time allowed for residents to speak at the beginning of each monthly meeting, but there are time constraints for completion of the overall public comment session of the monthly meeting.