The Saugerties Village Board voted unanimously to adopt the 2020-2021 budget, which calls for a reduction in the tax rate from the fiscal 2019-2020 rate of $6 per $1,000 of assessed value to $5.90 per $1,000 at its regular meeting on Monday, May 4.
However, the budget calls for an increase is spending from $2.250 million to $2.430 million, a 3.4 percent increase. The tax rate reduction results mainly from an increase in the total assessed value in the village.
The Village Board meeting was conducted via Webex, with provision for comments from the public via the web. No comments were posted, nor were written comments submitted – a suggestion offered at last month’s meeting for public comment.
Among the areas of increased spending are code enforcement (up $13,753), street maintenance ($407,322.80) including administration and employees, an increase of $10,199.20.
The budget calls for the mayor’s annual salary to remain at $10,200 and the trustees’ salaries to remain at $3,600 each.
Proposed spending cuts include contractual fees for attorneys from $25,000 to $22,000, contractual auditing fees from $25,000 to $15,000, contractual costs for engineering from $3,000 to $1,500 and contingencies from $1,000 to $500.
On the other hand, costs in the clerk/treasurer category are projected to increase by $7,660, the New York State retirement system by $10,000 and contractual expenses for the fire department by $23,090, while expenditure on equipment is projected to decline by $13,420. The village is also putting aside money toward a new aerial ladder truck for the fire department.
Included on the revenue side of the budget are payments of $25,000 each from contractor John Mullen and the Town of Saugerties toward a weed harvester to clear water chestnuts and millfoil from the Esopus Creek in the area opposite the village beach, as well as near Mullens’s property and the portions of the shoreline belonging to the town.
Murphy said village tax rates have decreased some 19 percent over the past ten years. In 2010, the tax rate was $7.30 per $1000. “In 2012, after the police merger, it was $6.76. Now it’s $5.90. That means that in ten years, we have decreased our tax rate by 19 percent.” Murphy said the decrease was “probably unmatched by any other community.”
Join the family! 
