Long Time Finance Director Steps Down

At Mondays board meeting Maggie Molidor who had been the Villages Director of Finance and Treasurer for 17 years stepped down to a more part time position so she can spend time with her husband Jerry and her grandkids. She still is however working a few days a week for us.

Maggie stepped into the role of Finance Director when former Mayor Jim Lumber took office 17 years ago, she inherited a village with over $30 dollars in the check book. Today our operating budget is quite a few thousand percent greater then that! When I took office 5 and half years ago our EAV was $67 million today its $328 million.

Maggie specialty was accuracy, when the village had its first special census four years ago, I used a complex algorithm, keen insider knowledge, and my infinite wisdom to enter my number of 11,600 residents in the office pool. Maggie called the number within 20 of the actual number 10,100. She took home $60 bucks for her accuracy that time as well in the office pool. She used the oh so simple and quite fiendishly clever method of counting water meters and multiplying by 3.

She and I would go round and round the first few years over what our projected EAV (Equalized Assesed Value) was. If you were too low, you only got what you asked for, if you were too high you had to cut from the appropriations budget. So you wanted to be too high, but by as little as possible. Naturally I did not want to be the mayor who under collected on our rightful tax dollars so I was always higher, Maggie would do the following, pray over the numbers, think about them in the shower (she did her best thinking there, so she told me numerous times) then walk in and say "Mayor the number is $173 million not your $179 million" and like the smart Mayor I am, I agreed, and when the number was $171 and change I wisely kept my mouth shut. But when the official levy numbers came in, she always would casually reference her number in some way to let me know, that she knew, that I knew!

On Monday we appointed a new Director of Finance Steven Shields and I presented Maggie with 18 long stemmed roses in appreciation, one for each year of service which were red, and then the 18th rose which was white for the next year or so of service. I had to keep my remarks brief because Maggie was shaking like a leaf, and quite frankly I was choked up as well. I suspect she will smack me up side my head when she sees me next for this post! It was worth it however!