Politics is not a spectator sport: everyone is responsible for the success of government operations. And here is a chance for all villagers to delve into their new budget document deposited on the village website a few days ago, to ascertain if the numbers reported there make sense. https://vi.potsdam.ny.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Budget-25-26-V2.pdf
So, for example, on the last page of the budget document (page 30, reproduced in image below), we see that the new cost per water EDU will be $138.10 and the cost per 1000 gallons of water will be $5.56 (quite a large increase for usage compared to last year). How much money will these rates generate for the water plant? Well, the budget document assumes that 190 million gallons of water will be delivered by the water plant and used by consumers: this would raise $5.56 x 190,000kG = $1,056,400 for the usage part. And since there are 4977.50 water EDUs in total, the fixed portion will raise $687,392.75, for a total revenue income to the water plant of $1,056,400 + $687,392.75 = $1,743,793.
But the budget document reports that the water plant requires $1,551,470 to be raised by tax/fee. So why are the water rates set to bring in $192,323 more than that? A similar computation shows that the sewer rates will bring in $1,769,770 which is $218,300 more than budgeted. Why?
If the reported appropriations for water and sewer were used, the rates would be quite lower.
Local Government Matters 