By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM – The Potsdam Village Board of Trustees holds its first round of public meetings on the budget for next fiscal year on Monday and Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Civic Center Board Room.

They will be discussing the current drafts of department budgets, drawn up by department heads after earlier discussions between them, the mayor and the treasurer, where they “talked about last year’s costs, this year’s costs, what has affected them,” and ideas about adjustments, said Village Administrator Everett Basford.

This is the department heads’ response to the first meeting. “The whole board will be getting a preview of the whole budget,” Basford said, with discussion of specific line items.

The current working figure for the levy for next fiscal year is $3,557,056, “a very rough figure” based on expenses, Basford said. That is $316,294 more than the current year’s levy, an increase of less than 1 percent.

These meetings are not the official budget hearing, which will occur in April, when a complete proposal for village finances for the year will be presented.

During the Monday meeting, the fire department, the police department, sewer, water and hydro components will be discussed.

The museum, the Department of Public Works including street maintenance, the code office and the planning office are scheduled for discussion at the Tuesday meeting.