Finances, specifically what the village is paying certain providers of professional services, was an ongoing topic of discussion during the Innsbrook Board of Trustees Dec. 18 meeting.

The conversation began as the board discussed the approval of financial reports.

Trustee Mike Caton said he noticed a few things when going over the finances. One was that the village was over budget on office expense items. Caton also pointed out that the village is already 67 percent of the budget for attorney services, but has not yet completed half a fiscal year.

“We need to be more judicious with what we have him do,” Caton said of Village Attorney Bradley Pryor.

Board of Trustees Chair Cynthia Bowers said that the village has been using Pryor recently to help update the village’s ordinances, and some of the work is complex.

With respect to office expenses, Bowers said that there were some expenses, such as the purchase of equipment that was not anticipated before moving into the Village’s new offices. Trustee Linda Bushman added that there were a lot of purchases at the beginning of the fiscal year in July and August for the new village offices.

Bowers then suggested a meeting in 2026 to go over the budget and make amendments. Trustee Donna West suggested sometime in late February for a meeting so that the village would have received its most recent sales tax revenues. Bowers agreed that they could set a meeting in late February or early March to go over the budget and make adjustments.

During the discussion, Bowers noted that while the village is over budget in some areas, in others, such as planning, the village is under budget.

Caton said he disagreed with that analysis saying that the budget line items should be kept balanced and that he didn’t think the village should simply be moving money around from one line item to another.

Bowers responded, specifically regarding Pryor’s billing, that the budget had originally been designed using a flat fee, since that was what the agreement was with their previous attorney, but that when the village engaged Pryor’s firm Hamilton Weber LLC they went to an hourly structure. She again argued that they have been judicious in using his time.

The financial statements were ultimately approved 4-0.

With respect to expenditures, a debate was held about payment to Village Planner Todd Streiler in the amount of $418.80. The issue surrounded the amount of time Streiler billed the village for services rendered. Caton objected to paying Streiler for three hours of work when he was only asked to perform one hour of work. Debate surrounded why Streiler charged for additional time when he was only requested to attend a one-hour planning and zoning meeting. Bowers said that she did not feel they should alienate their planner when they don’t have another planner to step in and help them. Ultimately the board voted unanimously to pay Streiler the $418.80.

After a brief discussion, the board also unanimously approved an update to the village’s business license ordinance.