The annual budget plan is in for the Town of Thorp in Clark County, and the numbers are instructive. Bordered by Worden on the south, Delmar on the west, Withee to the east and Taft on the north, landowners within the Town of Thorp are being asked to raise a collective total of $117,542 in general property taxes toward town expenses. Along with $1,235 in unspecified other taxes and $40 from managed forest land (the latter up from $0 the previous year), Thorp town residents can hope for a projected $227,975 contributed from the outside to township expenses through intergovernmental revenues, and $880 in projected “fines, forfeitures and penalties.”

Should town residents not wish for fines, forfeitures and penalties, however, they can manage these somewhat by paying their dog licenses on time and refraining from plowing snow from their driveways to deposit it illegally on the other side of public thoroughfares, a breach of state law. With town revenue from “public charges for services” cut in half next year to come out at just $200 from $400 the year before, miscellaneous revenues will remain unchanged for the 2021 fiscal calendar at $1,300.

All told this adds up to a total revenues balance of $349,172 for Thorp in 2021, down 1.1 percent or $3,982 in total town finances. Meanwhile, the application of a cash balance totaling $8,095 is due to bring the township out ahead from last year’s funding sources to the tune of $4,113 or $357,267 total in the budget fund balance. No cash balance was applied to the 2020 budget for a boost. Meanwhile, what comes in, trickles out, as the expenses side of the ledger shows.

Starting out the Thorp accounts payable side of the register, “General Government” is due to cost Thorp taxpayers $55,000, up $1,000 from 2020. Public safety is due to cost $17,065 and public works is budgeted at $188,536, both of which represent decreases in spending from the year previous.

At the same time, Thorp residents are being asked to make their own fun it seems, as $0 is dedicated in the town budget to “Culture, Recreation, and Education,” along with $0 for bridges, $500 for “Conservation and Development” (unchanged), and grader expenses shifted back to 2020, with $28,000 in the “Machine Fund” for 2020 but $0 for 2021. Meanwhile, don’t forget debt service!

Starting out the township debts is a Road Maintenance loan for $42,866, representing an unchanged payment from last year, while a “Patrol Loan” for $42,800 plus $8,000 for “Recycling and Garbage” brings the total Town of Thorp expenditures for 2021 to $357,267, or a total 1.1 percent increase in total spending from the year before. But while “patrol” refers in reality to the town road crew rather than law enforcement, one thing is for sure: plowing snow across driveways, leads to fines, and ice ridge hazards for local drivers.