By CRAIG FREILICH

NORWOOD – More than five months ahead of the next fiscal year, the Village of Norwood has begun the task of devising its next budget.

Among the items that Mayor Tim Levison and the Board of Trustees are taking up is pay for the four full-time members and summer workers of the Department of Public Works who are covered by a labor contract, which is expiring May 31, the end of the current fiscal year.

Also being considered are pay and benefits considerations for other employees and infrastructure improvement plans. Many of the factors in those expenses are difficult to predict, Levison said.

“A lot of what we have to do is based on health insurance, infrastructure materials, cost of living, and any signs of increases in state and federal aid,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of control” in those matters, the mayor said.

It appears that the cost of health insurance for workers is going up.

“We’ll do out due diligence and get the best deal for the workers and taxpayers.”

“We try not to cut services and keep within the tax cap,” he said.

What the final budget will look like “we’ll know more clearly later,” Levison said. “We’re early in the process.”