Kent Kraft/For the Gazette The Calumet Village Council met Thursday and approved the budget for fiscal year 2027.

CALUMET – On Thursday, the Calumet Village Council held a Public Hearing focused on reviewing potential millage and a proposed budget for their Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 which starts March 1. The Village has five millages — Operating, Operating – Extra (an additional operating expense millage set to expire in 2026), Streets, Sanitation, and Operations for the Downtown Development Authority.

All total, these property tax mills are 19.18784 which is down from 19.35556 for FY 2026. Still the predicted revenue will total $182,937.46, up nearly twenty-two thousand dollars from FY 2026. The smaller millage but larger revenue is explained by the raise in taxable property values which are up nearly $620,000 dollars from last year.

Village Manager Megan Haselden pointed out one major area of concern is “our Major Street Fund is getting hit very, very hard this winter.” According to Haselden, a large number of the streets in Calumet fall into this category which is funded primarily through Act 51 allocations from the Michigan Transportation Fund.

While the Major Street Fund was budgeted for $139,050 for snow and ice removal in FY 2026, the actual expenditures are over $218,000 meaning this account is running at a large deficit. While the fund carried over $116,571 heading into FY 2026, estimates put the fund at just $404 as the village enters FY 2027.

After Haselden went through the major bullet points for the millage and proposed FY 2027 budget, the public comment period followed. Long-time Village resident Virginia Dwyer addressed the council with a variety of concerns. Chief among these was her assertion the village did not give residents the budget within the necessary six days before the meeting took place.

Dwyer voiced concern at the increased expenditures the village has seen over the past three years. Haselden pointed out that there was also a large increase in revenue for the village as grant applications have been successful. That money needs to be spent, leading to increases in both revenue and a corresponding expenditure.

One of the other points Dwyer brought up was the fact the treasurer has not been at a village council meeting in many years. President Pro Tempore Pamela Que, leading the meeting in President Rob Tarvis’ absence, shared Dwyer’s concern on this point and questioned why the treasurer has not been to a meeting of the council during her tenure.

There was no resolution outside of Haselden’s assurance the treasurer had been invited to attend this meeting and was unable to. After the public hearing adjourned, the council immediately went into their regular meeting where they unanimously adopted the proposed FY 2027 budget.

The final agenda item was to discuss approval of a liquor license for the Red Jacket Ball scheduled for March 14 after the postponement from the original December date. The council discussed if the ball should even happen. Instead of granting a liquor license, the Red Jacket Ball is postponed to a later date.

In other action, the council:

· Approved paying bills and salaries totaling $61,084.39.

· Unanimously approved a 3% pay increase for full-time employees for FY 2027.

· Unanimously approved amendments to the FY 2026 budget.