How does the levy limit impact your community's services?  We have a difficult time trying to improve services and still stay within our budget. If one department's budget goes up money must be taken from other areas of the Village budget to stay within our limit.

How does the levy limit impact your community's budgeting practices and finances, eg, your amount of borrowing?  Unlike we would budget at home, we try to keep the debt level even so as not to lose borrowing opportunity in future years. This didn't have too much of a negative effect when interest rates were low but with increasing rates it will be difficult.

How does the levy limit impact your community's staffing levels and employee compensation?  We are not able to compete with neighboring communities for compensation. So far we've been able to maintain our staffin level but can't add to it. We are expecting more and more out of our current employees.

Anything else you'd like to say regarding the impact of levy limits on your community?  It has never made sense to me that some years we have levied the maximum so as to not lose that increase the following year. Without that ruling we might be able to give our taxpayers a bit of a break in some years. We are situated in an area where our opportunity for development is almost non-existent. Approx. one third of our border is state forest. We are also located in Jefferson County which is committed to preserving agriculture, so local farmers are not selling their land off.