Board Grapples With 2017 Budget
Like most towns in Eastern Rensselaer County, Berlin is faced with increased expenses, revenues that are basically flat, and a New York State tax cap of just 0.6 percent. [private]This means either drastic cuts in services, exceeding the tax cap, or in Berlin’s case, trying to mitigate both. The Thursday, October 27 budget workshop saw the Town Board take a close look at what is being spent by each department, and what modifications might be made to reduce expenditures and still maintain services. Right now, the Highway Department is short two employees. One of the options brought forth is turning one of these positions to a part time job for the winter, saving some money but still being able to maintain staff for the snow plow season. Another unknown for the Board is exactly what the personnel service costs will be, as a new contract is being hammered out with the union representing the department’s employees. An issue brought forth by Board members is the town’s inability to attract qualified employees, because their wage structure is lower than other municipalities in the area.
A decrease in the participation in the Summer Youth Program led the Board to make some reductions in the number of counselors needed, though they left staffing levels for the Summer Swim Program alone. A number of other budget lines were subject to minor changes based on this year’s spending levels and those in recent years.
Loss of Forestry Revenue
In 2016, $28,000 was budgeted for the harvest of wood products on town owned land. Those doing the harvesting have indicated they have completed the job, at least for now. This leaves the town with a significant shortfall in revenue for the 2017 budget. Rensselaer County has indicated that revenue sharing of sales and mortgage taxes are projected to remain about the same as this year’s levels, and the Board anticipates social service contributions will increase slightly.
The biggest unknown for the Board at this time is health care costs. As of Thursday night they had not yet received a solid cost figure from the insurance carrier. Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger has previously indicated he expects this cost to rise at least 10 percent. One bright spot was a communication from the New York State Comptroller’s Office, that projects retirement costs will go down in 2017 by about 10%.
As of Thursday night October 27, the Board was looking at a tax increase of over 10%, but the Board has scheduled another budget workshop on Wednesday, November 2, and the tax increase will probably be reduced as the Board works more on the budget.[/private]