By Doug La Rocque
Faced with rising costs mandated on the Town that exceed the 0.7 percent state limit on increased spending this year, the Berlin Town Board met in a workshop session Thursday October 22 to hammer out a spending plan that addresses the Town’s needs without dramatically increasing the tax burden. What they settled on was a spending plan that totals $1,024,821 – $593,133 for the Highway Department, about $421,689 for the general fund, and about $10,000 for street lighting.
[private]Berlin Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger mentioned several areas in which the Town’s costs are rising in things they can’t control, chief of these being an 18% hike in health insurance and a 4 to 5 % hike in Workman’s Compensation costs. The Board made cuts to the budget to offset these rising costs: they cut back the contingency fund by $10,000, the Youth Department Personal Services and contractual expenses by $500 each and eliminated the $500 dollars in equipment. Historically the Youth Department has not spent all the money that was budgeted, so the Board felt they could get along with the lower budget.
The Board also made some changes in anticipated revenues. The Town’s share of County Sales Tax revenue this year is on pace to exceed budget expectations, so the Board increased that revenue line by $20,000. Supervisor Jaeger also said they had not harvested all the timber off their 120 acre forest lot that was planned for this year, so the expectation is that will increase next year. For that reason the Board hiked that revenue line by $8,000.
Overall, budgeted spending is lower in the 2016 budget than it was in the 2015 budget. But the Board made a decision not to use any of the fund balance to offset taxes this year, because they felt the fund balance was getting too low. This will result in an increase in the tax levy of 21.2%. Jaeger said the tax rate will increase by $1.27 per thousand of assessed valuation.
The increase in the tax levy is mitigated by an increase of $114,000 in the town’s tax base. The Town will have to adopt a one year local law allowing them to exceed the 0.7% increase allowed by the NY State tax cap law. Jaeger said, “to keep the Town viable, we have no choice.”
Jaeger noted the $1.27 increase is against the assessed amount of a taxpayer’s property, not the full value appraisal. Berlin is not a full value assessment town and has an equalization rate of 26%. He explained the average full value of a home in Berlin is $50,000. This means the taxable assessment is about $14,000. The projected $1.27 increase is then multiplied by 14, not 50. In this example, the homeowner would see their town tax bill go up by $17.78. This of course is an average figure. Each taxpayer’s actual increase is dependent upon their actual assessed valuation.
A public hearing on the budget will be held just prior to the next regular Town Board meeting on November 12. A copy of the proposed budget is available for public review prior to the public hearing at the Town Clerk’s office during normal Clerk’s hours.[/private]