The Village of Saugerties has received its first payment from Ulster County for back taxes owed, Saugerties treasurer Paula Kerbert said at the village board’s regular meeting on Monday, August 19. Ulster County began reimbursing villages for back taxes this year for the first time. The check was for $4,338.90, which included all penalties.
The village received a sales tax check for $28,984.90 for its share of the sales tax, Kerbert said.
The village received an initial payment through the state’s Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program [CHIPS] of $47,858 for September; the next payment will be in October or November. The state program reimburses municipalities for road improvements.
Ulster County will provide villages with new tax collection software coming in 2025, Kerbert said. “If we sign up now, the county will pay for the license and also the first year’s maintenance and support; and after the first year, the village will only have to pay for the support portion of the cost, she said. “If we don’t sign up now, it will cost us four grand for the license and $600 for the software. If you’re OK with it, I can go ahead and get a municipal agreement.” The program would provide countywide information, which Kerbert said would facilitate her working with other towns, which she sometimes has to do. Kerbert, mayor Bill Murphy and village clerk Peggy Melville contacted the state comptroller’s office, as the board suggested at its last meeting, Kerbert said. They spoke to Ed Burgess, the chief of data operations and asked why the village was not notified of financial stresses, which turned up in a state report. “Ed informed us that we should have been notified and we stated we were not, so Ed apologized and said it would not happen again and informed us that there are webinars coming up in the early part of next year that we can attend and we will know our financial score as the year moves along in March, before it’s even posted.” The village representatives also got software that will allow village officials to keep a running score of how the village is doing financially. In order to remove the notification of financial stress, the village will have to increase taxes, which it has done; and increasing the village’s fund balance, which we are working on; decrease spending, of course; and the communication that we have now with the state comptroller’s office and the webinars, and that we can manage our own financial stress now is a huge help.”
Mayor Bill Murphy said he had contacted county comptroller March Gallagher, who put him in touch with the state comptroller’s office.” Murphy said he learned that financial stress is based on a financial record based on a score of zero to 100. A score of more than 65 indicates financial stress; “we scored 86 on that, so we were stressed. But 25 points of that was for our tax anticipation note, which is already paid off, so that alone has us down ahead of stress level. We have a fund balance, which is 25 points. We are working on building that back up, and also the fire truck debt, putting the numbers in as it goes to see how it is doing, “so this won’t happen again,” Murphy said.
Trustee Andrew Zink asked whether the village had an outside auditor go over its books. Murphy said that for years accountant Gary Newkirk was auditing the village books, but he left the area and the village is working with a new auditor.
Trustee Don Hackett suggested that the village request the new tax collection software immediately, “because if we’re up to date, we’re a lot better off.” Zink moved that the village sign up for the software, Hackett seconded and the board voted unanimously to go ahead with the program.
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