Grafton Supervisor Proposes Cut In Property Taxes For 2012

submitted by Tyler Sawyer
At a special Town Board meeting held on October 3, 2011, Town Supervisor Tyler Sawyer introduced to the Town Board Grafton’s 2012 Tentative Operating Budget. The tentative budget calls for the overall property tax decrease of 1.5% in the General Fund and slightly less than 1% for the Highway Fund. If adopted, it would mark the tenth straight budget that Sawyer has produced that reduced or held property taxes for Grafton property owners.
Town Supervisor Tyler Sawyer stated, “This past May, I was asked to return as Town Supervisor after the unfortunate resignation of a hard working Supervisor. With hard economic times, my priority was to present a budget without increasing taxes for residents. I am proud to state that even though this tentative budget reduces taxes; budgetary amounts allotted for services to our Youth, Seniors and Veterans have been recommended for increases.” The tentative budget also reintroduces the “Free Recycling” period for property owners that Sawyer first introduced in his first term as Supervisor. “This is a service that helps our residents keep Grafton the beautiful town that it is,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer stated, “One of the major reasons I was able to present a budget that reduces taxes in these hard economic times was the fact that our current assessment department has worked hard over the last couple of years to correct property record inventory discrepancies that have plagued our Town over the last twelve years or so. One example of the discrepancies was our Assessor finding six homes that have been built at least before 2006 that were not on the property record cards. The cards listed the property to be vacant land.” Sawyer continued, “This is just the tip of the iceberg, literally hundreds of other discrepancies have also been identified and corrected by our current assessment department. Correcting the tax rolls benefits the whole Town and putting those missing property values onto the books enables the Town to spread expenses over a larger tax base in a more fair and equitable manner. The end result is the proposed tax decrease for our residents. The current assessment department has put on nearly ten times the property value over the last two assessment rolls than that of the last two assessment rolls of the previous elected assessors.”
Sawyer concluded, “In a year when many towns, cities and villages are seeing property tax increases, it is satisfying that our Town Board can present a decrease to its residents that will help reduce the tax burden.”