by Kathy Savolt -
As the April 30th deadline for the budget quickly approaches, Village staff and the Board of Trustees (BOT) are looking for ways to bring in the 2024-25 budget under the New York State Property Tax Levy Cap which is set at 3.497% for next year. For a budget overview, see article HERE.
The Tentative Budget (see HERE) was released on March 19th and since then, the BOT and staff have held a series of work sessions to review the proposed budget and adjust as they deem necessary. At the April 24th work session, the BOT continued their discussion will additional cost cutting and revenue producing suggestions by Deputy Village Manager Dan Sarnoff and members of the BOT.
The Tentative Budget proposed a tax levy increase of 3.43% and noted an increase in assessed property value of 12.68% which de facto contributes to a tax increase. See previous article HERE. This Tentative Budget assumed “status quo” with most of the expense increases in mandated categories such as pensions, health insurance and debt payments.
As of close of business on April 23rd, the BOT had agreed on a series of changes ranging from $100,000 to $100 that actually raised the tax increase to 4.66% - which is over the cap. See HERE.
At the April 24th work session, the BOT agreed that the cap should “not be pierced” and Sarnoff was instructed to determine the effects of some changes he and the Interim Village Manager, Chuck Strome, had identified. These include:
· Reducing the salary and benefits of the Village Manager position to reflect a partial year since he or she will not be in place until Fall at the earliest,
· Assuming a vacancy rate in full time employees due to retirement and resignations, reviewing spending for parades and other special events and,
· Using more from the reserve fund. The Tentative Budget included using $990,000 from the reserve fund, a 52% increase from the adopted 2023-24 budget. Sarnoff said he anticipates some FEMA grant reimbursement that would be used to replenish the reserve.
The BOT will vote on the budget at a special meeting scheduled for Monday, April 29th following the presentation by the Department of State on the Open Meetings Law and Freedom of Information Law.
