WARSAW — The Warsaw Common Council held a special meeting last night, Jan. 30 to approve budget cuts after receiving their 1782 notice.

The council unanimously approved cutting the budget by $780,790 to approve the desired tax rate. The cuts were made from five different budgets, with $238,248 coming from the general fund and $468,712 coming from the fire territories operating costs.

The new tax rate after making these cuts will be $1.27. This rate is 2.8 percent higher than last year’s rate, but still significantly lower than the maximum rate allowed of 3.8 percent.

“If you remember last year, we only raised the rate a penny,” said Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer. “We probably overlooked the fire territory reserves. We got through the year, but those reserves needed to come up from last year and that’s probably where the increase coming from.”

“Thanks for all your work on this,” said council member Michael Klondaris thanking Thallemer. “Every time I would walk into your office you’d have your nose in your computer going through these numbers. I know it’s a lot of work.”

In other news:

• Two remaining oaths of office were taken during the meeting. Michael Klondaris was sworn into the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory board and Dan Smith was sworn into the Board of Zoning Appeals board.
• After the budget was approved, the meeting remained opened to the public for a strategic plan update and workshop.