TWIN LAKES — A Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a new ladder truck survived a three-hour attempt Wednesday night by the Village Board to pare the proposed 2010 budget and the estimated 7.6 percent increase in the tax levy.

In the end, officials found about $7,000 in miscellaneous costs to cut and applied $9,000 from the lake district, which has a separate levy, to help cover the cost of water patrol. But the effect on the proposed levy was minimal.

“We’re beating our heads up against the wall,” trustee Mark Karow said after several futile attempts to find excess within the budget.

Administrator David Cox said the largest increases in expenditures are for costs the board has little or no control over, such as salt, printing and jail costs. This, coupled with a decrease in shared revenue from the state, interest income and fees from building permits, is driving up the levy.

The proposed $3,318,331 levy accounts for 73 percent of village revenue. Of the total levy, $3,278,091 will support general fund expenditures and $40,240 will support the marina fund. A public hearing on the budget is Nov. 23.

Pork in the budget?

For the past four years, Uke’s Harley-Davidson has made a motorcycle available to the police department for $1 per year. Due to the economy, the company can no longer offer the program, but the village can buy the motorcycle it has been using for $8,400.

Police Chief Dale Racer said the motorcycle has only been used in parades and poker runs. He said the department only has one officer certified to drive it.

In order to increase use, the department would have to train one or two other officers at a cost of $1,500. The earliest training session is October 2010 in Madison, and the cost does not include two weeks of hotel accommodations.

“The training is rigid, and if you don’t pass, you don’t get your money back,” Racer said. “One in three do not pass.”

Trustee Sharon Bower spoke out against the purchase.

“It’s a fair-weather thing,” she said. “It’s only usable for a short period of time.”

Trustee Mike Moran said there are other public safety needs that could be met with those funds.

“I think we could use that money in a different capacity,” said Moran.” I’d rather buy some more cameras for the squad cars.”

Resident Linda Smith said the department didn’t use the motorcycle enough to justify its purchase.

“Stuff has to be, in my opinion, cut,” Smith said. “It’s (a matter of whether it is) nice to have or a must have.”

Trustees who supported the purchase said increased use of the motorcycle could be encouraged through policy, which could help reduce fuel costs and the mileage being put on the department’s new squad cars.

President Howard Skinner and trustees Tom Connolly and Kevin Fitzgerald all looked at the motorcycle as an investment.

“When you look at it as a vehicle, compared to the other vehicles, it is pretty darn cheap to use,” Fitzgerald said. “It seems like we could turn around and sell this thing for $12,000.”

Ladder truck a need

Fire Chief Stan Clause told the board the department’s ladder truck will no longer be certified as a first-response vehicle. The estimate to replace it is $675,000.

“We are in need of a new aerial; there is no doubt,” said Clause. “The truck is 20 years old. I don’t think it is a piece of equipment we can do without. We use it every time we have a structure fire.”

Clause said that because of truss roof construction, a building does not have to be a two- or three-story building to require the use of the ladder.

The department’s engine is also nearing 20 years, but can serve as a secondary vehicle for another dozen years, he said.

Cox said the village would not begin to make payments on the truck until 2011. If the village borrows $675,000 for 15 years at an interest rate of 5 percent, the debt service would be an estimated $65,000 per year.

Cox explained the village will retire a pre-2005 debt in 2011 that has an annual service of $75,000. According to state law, pre-2005 debt is a permanent part of the municipal levy. So, the cost of the new ladder truck could simply replace that debt service at no added cost to taxpayers.

The consensus of the Village Board was to purchase both the motorcycle and the ladder truck.