Village fiscal year ends with a surplus of nearly 8 percent

Warwick - The Village of Warwick ended its 2010-11 fiscal year on May 31 with a surplus of nearly $300,000, according to Village Treasurer Cathy Richards. Richards is also responsible for the annual audit document, which this year includes a total of $521,700 in budget modifications, which are end-of-year procedures for transferring unexpended funds into budget categories in the red. At the beginning of 2011, the board instituted a budget freeze. “By putting a freeze into effect, we were able to analyze every single expense,” said Richards. The move paid off. The village now has approximately an 8 percent surplus on last year’s budget, which totaled $4,246,078. The fund balance will help offset expenses for the current fiscal year, which are reviewed quarterly. The village accountant prepares the annual budget using both projections and speculation. This year the village incurred larger than expected costs for snow removal, repairs to the parks, including graffiti removal, and cleaning storm sewers. “We ended up closing with a surplus in both salary and contractual lines, so it was just a matter of realigning where the money actually went,” said Richards. Budget modifications for salary lines totaled $181,993.14 and for contractual lines totaled $339,707.80. Contractual lines went over budget because the village paid down one of its bond anticipation notes. That money had been used to restore the exterior of Village Hall, and in March, the village received a $125,000 reimbursement check for renovations to Village Hall from the Empire State Development Corp.