New Richmond officials met Thursday, Feb. 12 to discuss possible ways to cut their current operating budget and to plan for the future.

In a work session designed primarily to discuss the financial goals of the village, council members were told by Rick Hilt, finance committee chair, that the biggest single factor in the shortfall is the Beckjord Power Plant. With the deregulation of utilities, the plant has been reducing the amount of tax revenue paid to the village by $10,000 a year since 2007.

“We have a tax revenue shortage,” said Hilt. “In 2007, Beckjord started reducing and each year the amount that used to be $262,000 annually is $10,000 shorter. By 2017, that revenue will be gone. The bottom line is that some day we have to replace this money and we need to look at some different ways we can do this.”