The week a public hearing for the Town’s 2025 budget and following, a special meeting of the electors was held. Thanks are extended to Clerk Stefanie Schlapa especially, and Treasurer Greg Hakala for drafting the budget for consideration. The few residents that attended had insightful questions and some line-items in the detailed budget will be revised to reflect potential changes. The revised budget will be available at the monthly town board meeting next Wednesday.

The town levy was approved by the electors that evening, along with permission for town officers to work at the part-time employee rate (in cases of emergency) and increased compensation for town officers effective after the Spring 2025 election. The largest increase was for the part-time clerk from just over $16,000 to $24,000 per year. This, to allow the clerk to hire a deputy clerk at his/her discretion (most typically the deputy clerk salary comes from the clerk’s salary), and to also incentivize the VERY difficult job occupied by the clerk. It’s often been said that “ a good clerk runs the town”. There is SO MUCH responsibility on their shoulders. Hopefully this much deserved increase will keep a town clerk in office for many years (looking back many of our clerks served more than a decade; some two or more). We need to keep good clerks in place as their expertise is invaluable.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the “balmy” weekend predicted. Sharon