With budget season upon us, Supervisor Greg Helsmoortel is confident town tax increases will come in well below the two percent property tax cap.
A public hearing on the draft budget will be held Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. at the Senior Center on Market St.
Proposed expenditures for 2015 come in at $11,777,941, an increase of $303,770, or 2.65 percent over the current budget of $11,474,171.
Barring any surprises, the tax levy is anticipated at $9,399,941, an increase of $121,747, or 1.31 percent over the current levy of $9,278,194.
Under state regulations, a municipality cannot increase its tax levy beyond two percent without adopting a local resolution. Several items, such as pension obligations, are exempt from the cap.
Included in the above figures are expenditures and anticipated revenues for the town general, highway and town outside village funds. Not included are the ambulance and library districts. Those are not included because they have their own governing boards and set their own budgets. Also not included are water, sewer and fire districts which differ depending on location.
“There’s nothing crazy,” said Helsmoortel earlier this week, while cautioning this budget is “very tentative.”
Broken down into the three major funds, the anticipated levy is $6,364,228 for the general fund, $2,732,633 for the highway fund and $303,080 for town outside village.
Proposed expenditures broken down are $8,209,728 for the general fund, which includes police, $2,980,133 for highway and $588,080 for town outside village.
Helsmoortel and the Town Board set a public hearing Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. to pore over the budget in much more detail during a public hearing. As of Monday, that date is still set, but Helsmoortel said don’t be surprised if that gets pushed back until Nov. 5 as he makes tweaks after discussions with various town departments.
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