Over the past twenty years, Pleasant Prairie has taken a progressive approach to community building that has yielded a unique blend of economic development, residential growth and recreational/lifestyle resources. In essence, Village planners have taken on the task of making the Village an inviting place, and laying out the welcome mat, for new business and residential residents. Like the private sector, however, the Village has begun to experience some direct effects of the current economic challenges that are facing the world today.
Despite being faced with economic challenge, however, the Village remains committed to providing high-quality municipal services for a fair cost, while keeping residential taxes low. The Village plans to meet the challenge with continued, conservative financial planning. More specifically, the Village:
• will continue to use impact fees to cover the cost of new growth
• has limited the number of new budget programs for 2009
• will borrow only for major Village-wide capital purchases
• will maintain a Reserve Fund balance above 15%
• will only use the Fund balance as a last resort
• will postpone capital spending, that can reasonably be postponed, until the last quarter of the year as an added level of precaution (exceptions will be the replacement of police vehicles and mobile radios for public safety personnel during the first quarter, and paving projects planned during the third)
While taking these steps to safeguard municipal investments and operations, the Village remains committed to attracting new economic development in order to supplement the tax base and provide a more balanced and stable financial environment. The Village will continue to invest in infrastructure within Tax Incremental District #2 in preparation for the economic turnaround. When economic development is ready to move forward, the Village will be prepared to take it in stride.