The town of Vienna racked up more than $900,000 in surplus funds during fiscal year 2021, courtesy of higher-than-expected revenues and pandemic-spurred budget cuts, and town leaders now have indicated where they want those funds to go.
The Vienna Town Council on Dec. 6 unanimously approved a budget carry-forward that will allot $280,000 for a fiscal year 2023 real-estate-tax decrease, $270,000 to address employee turnover and retention, and $120,000 to correct pay compression the does not differentiate sufficiently based on employees’ work experience or skill levels.
The measure also will allot $100,000 for corrections needed in the fiscal 2022 budget, $70,000 for landscaping and tree maintenance, $50,000 for paving and $10,000 to fill in missing sidewalk segments.
The Council traditionally sets aside half of surplus funds to the town’s unassigned fund balance (aka, rainy-day fund) in order to be able to finance at least 15 percent of the next year’s budget. The approved spending scenario will leave the town with at least 21.5-percent funding in the rainy-day account for the next year, said Vienna Finance Director Marion Serfass.