The American Legion Park in St. Ignace will have to wait at least another year to receive some aesthetic improvements, said Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Director Deb Evashevski, owing to a revised budget passed at the DDA's meeting Friday, June 12.

The revised budget, which assumes revenues of $256,662 and expenses of $256,540, is a revision to the original budget adopted in October, 2008. This year's expected revenue is $19,172 more than in the 2008 budget, but $18,595 less than it was in the original draft of the 2009 DDA budget.

This decrease was caused by an updated DDA area commercial tax assessment, which helps determine expected property tax revenue ahead of time. This reduction was unexpected, Mrs. Evashevski said, because the tax revenue has increased each year, at least since 1995.

A cut of $21,217 in the budget for contracted services will mean the American Legion Park will only get $600 of the original $2,000 designated for improvements.

Upgrades to the park that will need to be put off because of the decreased funds include paving the entire pathway through the park with bricks, re-doing some of the landscaping, and adding a swing set. Some smaller maintenance and improvements are still included in the budget. For instance, Mrs. Evashevski said the pathway would probably be re-coated with crushed limestone in lieu of the paving bricks.

"We can still do some little things, it was just some of the bigger stuff that will need to be postponed," she said. "It's good to sort of step back a little bit and allow the dust to settle."

She said that cutting back and staying within budgets is especially important this year for city divisions, but hopes improvements can be made to American Legion Park in future years.

"You always have to make some improvements to your project to keep it looking nice," Mrs. Evashevski said. "It's time to start doing some things to American Legion Park."

She said she hopes funds will be freed up to do some of this work next year.

The one other budget change is a $3,100 increase to printing and publishing.

The printing costs were increased to help fund a reprinting of Historical Walking Tour booklets and the table tent inserts that have been placed on the tables of area restaurants. These inserts give diners a quick view of area attractions and events.

"We knew how important that was for our downtown district," Mrs. Evashevski said.

The city's DDA will continue to support the marina's bond debt with $10,000 each year for three years, as promised in 2008. The authority will also again provide $30,000 to help fund another of its projects, the Museum of Ojibwa Culture.