Inverness more than doubles its road budget

The Inverness village board completed the annual budget process by approving the appropriation ordinance Tuesday night.

The village has budgeted expenditures totaling $3,781,275, for this year, which is an increase of $53,375, or just over 1.4 percent, from last year.

Village Administrator Sam Trakas the village more than doubled the amount of money committed to street maintenance, from $80,000 to $179,000.

Trakas said the harsh winter has made the village take a reactive approach to street maintenance.

"We have been doing regular patching and regular crack filling to prevent potholes and the deterioration of the road," Trakas said.

He added that the extra funds will allow the village to create a new five-year program that will allow the village to do more preventive maintenance in addition to regular patching.

"To increase the life expectancy of roads you must have a good preventive maintenance program," Trakas said. "The village recently finished a five year resurfacing plan, and this new plan will ensure that the resurfacing done over the last five years will be extended to create the longest life expectancy of the road as possible."

Other programs being funded in the budget are a $100,000 allocation to finish the repair of the silos at the village hall.

Trakas said there was no significant change in the village's revenue.