How does the levy limit impact your community's services?  Since the freeze on levy limits our Village has had to take out loans to replace equipment and repair streets. Our streets are getting worse and the patching is not going to hold much longer.. We have had to replace several pieces of equipment in the past couple years and that depleted our set aside accounts so now anything that needs fixing or replacing will be paid for by borrowing. Our Fire department members have had to fundraise to purchase a jaws of life and are now raising funds for an AED on the ambulance.

How does the levy limit impact your community's budgeting practices and finances, eg, your amount of borrowing?  We have financed a new garbage truck, used our savings to fix our mower and used street budget to fix sidewalks. The roads will be patched until we can afford to do more. We have equipment that needs to be replaced right now (generator, plow truck, etc.) but we will cross our fingers they will hold out until our current loans are paid off. We try to put a fixed amount in set aside accounts every year to save for replacing or fixing equipment and we have not been able to do that every year.

How does the levy limit impact your community's staffing levels and employee compensation?  Our employees have gone several years with minimal raises or no raise at all. It is hard to find new hires with the wage we can pay and when we do they leave for more money AFTER WE SPEND THE MONEY TO TRAIN THEM. We have three FT public works/utility employees, one FT police Chief and two FT office.