SCHERERVILLE | With a $1.5 million deficit in the general fund for its 2009 estimated budget, Schererville leaders are looking to close the gap by boosting revenue and cutting costs.

Clerk-Treasurer Janice Malinowski blamed the gap on a decrease in miscellaneous revenue coupled with the town being frozen at 2007 levy numbers. There's an economic downturn, and people aren't building houses, she said.

Schererville is not collecting as much money in building permit fees, which contribute to the town's miscellaneous revenue.

Town Council President Hal Slager said during a public hearing Wednesday that the budget deficit does not reflect poorly on town staff. Spending increased only 2.4 percent between this year and last year, he said.

The deficit is the result of a "very unfortunate combination of circumstances," Slager said.

Aside from quadrupled road salt costs and increased fuel costs, the municipality is faced with an additional pay period for 2009 because of the way the calendar falls, Malinowski said.

The town will have to find between $250,000 and $300,000 to cover the cost of having 27 pay dates in the year instead of 26, she said.

Town officials also discussed the likelihood the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area no longer will reimburse the town for the two Schererville officers assigned to the task force. The cost could be about $100,000, Councilman Tom Schmitt said.

Slager said HIDTA is pulling reimbursement for all municipalities with officers assigned to the force, not just Schererville.

"We will have to absorb the cost of those two officers, in addition to everything else," he said.

HIDTA pays for about 80 percent of those officers' salaries and 100 percent of their overtime pay, Interim Police Chief Dan Smith said.

Beginning in April, HIDTA no longer will reimburse their salaries, he said.

About 75 percent of the town's general fund covers public safety expenses, Malinowski said.