LAKE LINDEN — Lake Linden approved a balanced $569,000 general fund budget at its village council meeting Thursday night. 

Hits from state revenue sharing meant Lake Linden had to postpone plans to replace the aging roof of the village hall. 

“When the state projected that the revenue sharing would probably be decreased by 15% or so, that money kind of went away,” said Clerk Bob Poirier.

The council had taken bids for the roof replacement but tabled them Thursday. Instead, the village will look at smaller repair work, Poirier said. The budget allots $30,000 for repairs and maintenance.

Park fees are expected to decline to $30,000 from $34,346 in the current fiscal year. The campground did not open until June due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, June is typically a light month for the campground anyway, Poirier said in a memo accompanying the budget.

“Reservations have been crazy the last several days so I’m hopeful that this may even increase over last year,” he said. 

Equipment fees are budgeted at $140,000 — about midway between the $175,000 budgeted for last year and the $110,870 in actual income. The low number was due to a milder winter, Poirier said. The easy winter paid off in the major street fund, where the village saw a $33,000 gain in revenue. 

This year, the village will also replace water meters throughout its system. The council approved a $300,000 bond Thursday, which will go towards purchasing the meters, paying a contractor to replace them, and updated software and hardware. 

The current meters were largely installed in the 1970s and 80s, and have reached the end of their useful life, Poirier said. 

“We’ve been planning this for the past year-and-a-half,” he said. 

Residents will receive a mailing describing the project, and how to set up an appointment to get their meter replaced. The project will start in July and probably run through the fall, Poirier said. 

The council also approved bids for $50,361 for a reservoir roof and $6,500 for one for the pumphouse. 

It also approved up to $70,000 for a new backhoe, replacing one from 1990. Public Works Director Andrew Goldsworthy said he had been told the old one could fetch up to $10,000 in trade-in value. 

The council also approved a total tax rate of 19.3832 mills. No rates were changed from 2019 aside from heavy equipment, which voters approved raising to 1.75 mills in May. 

The council also approved bonuses for village employees for hours worked since Michigan’s state of emergency began on March 22.