PHOTO BY AMY WENDT / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
MONEY MATTERS … Archbold Village Council reviews expenditures since its last regular meeting.
By: Amy Wendt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
amy@thevillagereporter.com
The Archbold Village Council met on Monday, November 3, 2025, for its regular meeting with council members Karla Ball, Chad Kern, Aaron Babcock, Kevin Eicher, Vaughn Bentz, and Gary Dominique present.
Mayor Brad Grime, Village Administrator Aaron Alt, and Clerk Cassie Storer were on hand as well.
Mayor Grime also welcomed two members of the public who were in attendance, including Mike Evans, one of six candidates running for a seat on the village council.
Following recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and a brief moment of silent prayer, the council approved its meeting minutes from October 20 as presented and authorized the payment of bills and payroll in the amount of $633,908.99.
Moving through the agenda, the council heard Resolution 2025-46 amending the Employee Pay Plan Manual, Organizational Structure, and Pay Grade Movement.
Village Administrator Alt explained that the measure addresses discrepancies and makes necessary adjustments concerning reassignments and pay deductions, before closing out the books for the year.
The resolution also removes unfilled positions from the organizational structure that haven’t been filled in at least five years. It was noted that a more comprehensive overhaul is expected in the spring of 2026.
Alt clarified that the changes are not expected to affect anyone financially, but rather to clarify issues brought up at a recent finance committee meeting.
Council voted to suspend the rules, and upon a motion from Bentz, which was seconded by Dominique, the council approved the Resolution.
Council accepted Change Order 1, Final, for Miscellaneous Street Resurfacing (Contract 1-2025) in Resolution 2025-47.
Alt explained that the project saw significant savings of $50,762.78 due to precise milling work. The savings allowed for additional resurfacing in areas with water main breaks and asphalt improvement in some parts of West Barr Road.
After all council members approved the suspension of the rules, Ball offered a motion to approve the resolution, which was seconded by Kern and approved unanimously.
Ordinance 2025-48 provides for reimbursement of the cost of operation of the general fund, including mayor/administration, council, finance, state audit, and legal service account. The measure formalizes how general operational costs will be shared among multiple funds.
Alt pointed out that the adjustments were made in response to a recent state audit requirement to remove police funding from the general fund due to the dedicated EMS and police levies.
Under the new reimbursement schedule, the General Fund contributes 5%, while the Income Tax Fund provides 3%. EMS and Fire Funds each contribute 4%, and the Police Fund also contributes 4%. The Street Maintenance and Parks Funds will each contribute 7% while the Capital Projects Fund, Water Fund, and Wastewater Fund will each contribute 22%, which has not changed.
Alt expressed concern about the general fund’s tight revenue, noting that, unlike in many other communities, the 1.8% income tax does not directly benefit the general fund and his highly restricted. This could result in the general fund spending more than it brings in next year.
“When you look at mayor/administration, council finance, state audit, legal fees, this is what makes up how those sources are funded as reimbursements. So, we have a very restrictive income tax as it is, 1.8%.
None of that actually goes into general fund. Our general fund revenue source is so tight that if we didn’t have this, quite frankly, I don’t know. I don’t know what we’d be looking at…” Alt explained.
“General fund is just in – I’m not going to say it’s in trouble, but if we don’t really look at the budgets hard this year for next year and have some serious discussions, it could be very difficult without generating additional revenue.”
Alt continued, “I think we’re going to be asking ourselves the question in the future, do we need to amend the 1.8%, not necessarily to increase it, but to ask the voters to allow the elected officials to disperse those funds – that 1.8%, as needed to fund our community before we start coming back asking for more taxes.
“Now that – that would take into our capital projects, but we bring in a healthy amount of money. Don’t get me wrong. But there’s no flexibility as the state audit has identified.
“We cannot move anything into general funds. You can only move money out. So I encourage discussion as we move into budget season on this topic.”
The group then discussed the option of shifting its taxation policy by possibly eliminating the local property tax for the general fund and replacing it with an increase to the municipal income tax.
This would increase financial flexibility by consolidating funding into the general fund, allowing dollars to be easily allocated among departments and projects as needed.
Transitioning from a property tax to an income tax structure would broaden the funding base by including those who work in the community but live elsewhere, reducing the reliance on property taxes for local services. Any such change would require voter approval.
Alt continued, “I think there would be a lot of benefit, and – I know that we don’t have a lot of public here, but we at least have the press – if we had a reallocation and we had that flexibility and we can shore things up differently.”
After the council voted to suspend the rules, Eicher offered a motion to approve the reimbursement schedule ordinance, with Dominique seconding and all members voting in favor.
Turning to committee, board, and departmental reports, council reviewed the October 2025 Income Tax report, noting collections took a sharp fall to $399,161.47, representing a 26.82% decrease from the same time last year.
The decline was primarily due to three of the top ten employers not having their checks processed on time, resulting in an $86,000 shortfall that is expected to be corrected in November.
Additionally, a $50,000 refund was issued to a business that had overpaid in the spring, and another business reported lower profits than expected, resulting in a $180,000 reduction compared to its performance last year.
Other reports before the council were the October 2025 Fleet report, as well as the Fire & EMS report for last month.
Before adjourning, Gary Dominique raised a concern about the lack of updated local event information on the village’s government website.
Other members agreed that while the current website is an improvement over the previous version, it still could better serve residents.
Council discussed options for making it more informative, including a completed calendar of upcoming events, improving access to public notices, and integrating content from the app and Facebook.
It was acknowledged that reaching residents who are not active on social media is a challenge, and it was suggested to print flyers or prepare a monthly online recap to help fill the gap left by the absence of The Archbold Buckeye, which closed its doors this past summer.
Mayor Grime added that the local radio station offered to conduct monthly interviews or recaps with council members to help keep residents informed.
It was also mentioned that the Archbold Planning Commission will hold a meeting on Monday, November 10, at 5:00 p.m. to hear about a large residential subdivision with a proposed location on East Lutz Road.
Archbold Village Council will hold its next regular meeting on Monday, November 17, at 5:30 p.m. in the village’s Municipal Building.