by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Budget passed in November of 2016 contained no increase in the tax levy. The levy will be $748,882, which is slightly lower than last year.[private]Overall spending is a few thousand dollars less than last year, and because Highway revenues are expected to be higher, the Town was able to apply less fund balance to the budget than they did for this year’s budget. Last year the Town applied $90,000 of the fund balance to reduce the tax levy, and this year it will apply $70,000 from the unexpended balance.
General fund appropriations are about $23,000 higher than they were in the 2016 budget, and Highway appropriations are about $26,000 lower. The main reason Highway appropriations are lower is because the “bridges” line had been increased to $50,000 last year to pay for the Town’s share of the new bridge at Broken Wheel Road, and this year it is back to the normal annual budget of $20,000.
The Highway Superintendent and the Highway crew were given a 2% raise in pay, and most but not all town officials got a similar increase. The Supervisor, the Town Board, the Assessor, and several other Town offices had no increase in pay.
Highway revenues are up by $21,000, mainly because of an $18,000 increase in the town’s CHIPS allocation, from $82,000 last year to $100,000 in 2017.
The biggest increases in the General Fund budget were an increase in the budget for Town buildings from 51,000 to $60,000, and the re-establishment of the Town Secretary position. $9,250 is budgeted for that. Town Clerk Deidra Michaels said Town hours have been expanded, and she is providing secretarial support for several Town departments, including the Water District, the Building Department, and the Constable.
The budget for paying the Town attorney was increased from $12,000 to $17,000 to cover the cost of paying the town’s environmental attorney who is dealing with PFOA issues, especially concerning the landfill.
The Constable salary remained the same at $1,500, and an additional $500 was added for contractual expense. The preliminary budget had included $1,000 for a Deputy Constable, but that was eliminated in the adopted budget.
The Code Enforcement salary was increased from $9,000 to $10,500. In the preliminary budget that was increased to $12,000 annually and a Code Enforcement Clerk was added for $3,000 annually, but the raise was reduced and the clerk eliminated in the adopted budget.
Contractual assistance to the Ambulance Squad was increased from $13,000 to $14,500, because the cost of insurance for the ambulance has risen dramatically. Contractual expense for the Highway Garage was reduced from $14,000 to $10,000, based on actual expense in the last two fiscal years. [/private]