Stephentown Town Board Action – Tentative Budget Has Close To 11% Tax Levy Increase In Spite Of Cuts

by David Flint
A tentative Town budget for Stephentown presented at a public hearing Monday evening would reduce expenditures by about 2% but still result in a tax levy increase of close to 11%. Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt said the Town has been dipping into “savings” for too long, using the unexpended fund balance to keep taxes down. Now it’s time to “grab hold of the third rail and take the shock,” he said. The big issue facing the Town, he said, is that revenues are down in 2010 and are projected to decrease even more in 2011. “We are not destitute,” he said, but with about $300,000 left in the fund balance, he felt it was approaching a critical level that could be cleaned out should there be a major catastrophe such as last year’s flooding or a sudden need to replace a Highway Department truck. To come up with a budget with a zero percent tax increase, he said the Board would have to take another $120,000 from the unexpended fund balance, leaving only about $180,000. Eckhardt thought it would have been more prudent in past years to keep the levy increase at close to zero rather than offering tax decreases of three or four percent. “We tried to be heroes,” he said, “but no one knew” because the County taxes went up anyway and residents’ tax bills showed an increase.
Eckhardt walked his audience through the budget line by line as Bookkeeper and Supervisor’s Clerk Maureen Seel displayed on the wall a computer projection of the spreadsheet the Board is using to look at options for revenue and expenses. In the tentative budget, there are no pay raises for Board members. The Town Justice Department, the Assessor’s Office, the Town Clerk, the Code Enforcement Officers and the Tax Collector would get a 2% increase. The Town Supervisor’s salary would be cut to $8,649 with the amount cut, $7,725 going to pay for Seel’s bookkeeping services. Two thousand dollars will be set aside to give the Town Hall a thorough cleaning inside and out. The Highway Superintendent and his employees would receive a 3% raise.
The Board proposes to reduce the amount allotted for Veterans Services from $1,500 to $1,350. The current year’s allotment of $6,000 for the Heritage Center would be cut by 2½ %. Funding of Seniors’ trips would be cut by 1%. Funding for the Youth Program, which Eckhardt said had a drop in attendance this year, would see a decrease from $48,673 to $30,000.
The tentative budget also showed a decrease in funding for the Stephentown Library from $42,575 to $38,300. The Library had asked for an increase of $1,000. Eckhardt asked Library Board President Sue Cass to speak to that. She said the Library understood the financial problems the Board was facing but she hoped that the Town Board would take into account the value of each program they proposed to cut. She noted that provision of services at the Library has increased enormously over the past few years. They expect to have received 13,000 visitors this year, up from 6,600 in 2007. The 10% cut that the Board proposed, she said, would probably result in dropping one day a week from the hours the Library is now open. She said the Library could more easily make do if funding were to stay flat. Bill Jennings noted, too, that the County proposes to cut all funding for all libraries, so the $3,500 from that source would be gone.
Eckhardt said the Board would take all this into consideration. He noted that since the Library provides many services to youth, reducing the Library cut would make it a bit easier to accept the deep cut to the Youth Commission.
On the revenue side, Eckhardt said the Board expects to increase Transfer Station income by $30,000 by raising the price for stickers and for trash bags. This will offset somewhat the expected drop in revenue from sales tax, mortgage tax, Town Clerk fees, building permits, dog licenses and interest on bank accounts.  They will, however, restore hours on Monday from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Brian Baker thought the Board might be overestimating the decrease in revenue they expect from the County sales tax and mortgage tax. Based on an upward trend he sees in real estate transactions, he believes there should be a slight increase next year in both mortgage tax and sales tax, not back to 2008 levels but better than the this year.
At the regular meeting following the public hearing, the Board set another public hearing for Monday, November 8, at 7 pm, this one to present and hear comments on the Preliminary Budget for 2011.
Offer Made On Grange Hall Road Property
Eckhardt reported that the Board had hired an appraiser from Liberty Realty to determine the fair market value of the property on Grange Hall Road situated between the Town Garage and the Library. The value was said to be $115,000. The Board made an offer of $95,000 to the seller and it was turned down. Eckhardt said the offer will stand in case the seller changes his mind. Purchase of the property would be contingent on the result of public hearings, Board approval and possibly a public referendum.
BAR Position And Snowplowing
The Board passed two other resolutions, one to authorize advertising for a position on the Board of Assessment Review and one to advertise for bids to provide snowplowing and walk clearing for the Transfer Station and the Town Hall. Résumés, letters of interest and bids for both are to be submitted to the Town Clerk by Friday, November 12.
TRACS Gets Grant
Sue Cass reported that the TRACS (Together Reducing Alcohol and Drugs in our Communities) group has received a grant of $150,000 over the next two years to develop a training program and get the coalition functioning and in a position to apply for further grant money. This initial grant will be shared with a coalition in Schaghticoke. Cass said the coalition needs other organizations and stakeholders in the community to join and take part in the program. They can then apply for grant money that could total $1.5 million over the next ten years. The Youth Commission and the Library are already represented. Any other organization that believes they can do anything to reduce and prevent teen alcohol and drug abuse or to promote social values in the community could join the coalition and share in the grant money. The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday of this week at Berlin High School.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk reported she had turned over the sum of $559.33 to the Supervisor for the month of September. The distribution from the office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $2,235 for the month of August and $1,390.90 for September. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $6,904 for the month of September.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $14,185.93 from the General Account and $50,795.20 from the Highway Account.
The Board set their next regular meeting for Monday, November 15, at 7 pm.