Saugerties village trustees are proposing a 2021-2022 budget of $2,418,146, down $13,393 from the 2020-2021 budget. The budget also shows an increase in revenue from $2,232,897 the last fiscal year to $2,418,146, an increase of $185,249. The tax rate per $1,000 of property value is projected to increase from $5.91 to $5.95. The total assessed value in the village has decreased from $356,143,891 to $354,960,263 between 2020 and 2021.
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Monday, April 5 at 5:30 p.m. Copies of the proposed budget are on the website with the meeting link or from the Village Clerk’s office on Partition Street. The public hearing is virtual; the link to attend via Cisco Go to Meeting is https://villageofsaugerties.my.webex.com/join/bmurphy.
The budget includes $125,000 from the federal Covid aid grant. However, the village will most likely receive considerably more, trustee Vincent Buono said. “Paula [treasurer Paula Kerbert] included $125,000 for Covid relief that was coming through Delgado’s office.”
“We’ll be getting a lot more than $125,000,” Mayor Bill Murphy said. “We used $125,000 in the budget.” The village would receive a portion of the grant to the town, presumably based on the village’s population relative to the town, Murphy said. One area of uncertainty is the formula for determining that relationship; it would depend on whether the village population is included in the town population or separated out for the calculation.
The Covid relief money may not be simply included with the village’s income; it must be used for specified projects, Murphy said.
The budget includes several increases in revenue besides the federal $125,000 in Covid relief. Some of the larger increases are New York State Highway Funds (CHIPS), up $19,000 from $54,000 to $73,000; sales tax revenue, up $5000 from $62,000 to $67,000; and real property taxes, up $53,249, from $1,740,997 to $1,794,246. On the other hand, projected revenue from penalties on late payments of taxes are projected to be down $20,000, from $30,000 this year to $20,000 next year and justice fines down $20,000 from $70,000 to $50,000.
On the spending side of the budget, the cost for village justices is projected to increase $3,000 from $68,300 to $71,125; records management salaries are up $5,000, from $5,000 to $10,000, with an increase in contractual costs of $500, from $500 to $1,000. In general, increases in the budget reflect salary increase, but some of the increases are in contractual costs, the largest of which is for buildings, up $9,000, from $66,000 to $75,000. Some costs are going down: auditing is down $12,000, from $15,000 to $3,000; traffic control personal services is down $5,000, from $31,000 to $26,000, and contractual expenses related to parking are down $2,500, from $5,000 to $2,500.
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