Brookhaven Town could be out of surplus funds as early as 2014 unless officials come up with ways to save the town money, according to an article published Thursday in Times Beacon Record newspapers.
TBR reported Brookhaven's finance commissioner said the town had approximately $72 million in surplus funds in 2008, but is expected to fall to $34 million after this fiscal year, and could be depleted by 2014.
Employee benefits and salaries ate up $14 million more in expenditures than the town received in revenue in 2012, according to the report.
Brookhaven has already been operating under a salary freeze, and will continue to do so, and could consider other money-saving measures such as reorganizing town departments and services and cutting capital projects not already funded in the budget. Among other cost-saving decisions the town could make is establishing a public-private partnership in which a private company could take over the day-to-day operation of several town marinas and save the town more than $450,000.
According to TBR, the town has imposed on itself a minimum fund balance of $25 million, but it could see its fund balance dip below that requirement next year.
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