The Merrill Common Council, meeting as the Committee of the Whole last Tuesday, approved a $685,000 borrowing plan to close gaps in the 2009 operations and to help fund the 2010 budget. The Aldermen also took another step toward eliminating the Municipal Court, drafting an ordinance that would do so after Judge James Sheridan’s current term expires on April 30, 2010.

The borrowing plan calls for $475,000 for unbudgeted expenditures in the 2009 budget and $210,000 for the 2010 budget.

Covered in the borrowing is $70,000 to replace the fence on the East 1st Street municipal parking lot and up to $85,000 to replace the bathrooms at Riverside Park. Both projects still remain in the draft 2010 budget that the committee advanced.

By a 5-3 vote, the committee voted to advance the ordinance that will eliminate the court after much debate. Alderman Paul Proulx made a motion to reinstate the court due to the city losing revenue and that moving its caseload to county courts would create a backlog. Ray Bloomer and Anne Caylor both argued that the county could absorb the cases and that they were unconvinced of the revenue the municipal court generates.

The Common Council was scheduled to take up the ordinance and the budget at a meeting Tuesday evening.