Town Board Reviews 2016 Budget in Hindsight
by David Flint
There was only one resolution before the Stephentown Town Board at its January meeting last Monday and that one was tabled. [private]The resolution was for the annual transfer of funds within accounts to balance and close the books for the past year – “shuffling money around to try to make it look like we knew what we were doing,” quipped Councilman Bill Jennings. It could not be voted on, however, because Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt was unavoidably detained out of town, was not present and had not yet seen the report from Bookkeeper Maureen Seel.
Jennings provided a summary of how things stacked up with the 2016 Budget. The General Fund on the expense side exceeded budget by about $96,000. The reason for that was the purchase of a new dump truck for $118,000. This amount was taken out of the Reserve fund as planned. The Highway Department also purchased a new Gradall for $154,000 with money included in the budget.
On the revenue side, the Town expected to take in $745,000 but actually received $784,000. The mortgage tax distribution from the County was about $14,000 more than predicted in the budget. Jennings noted that quite a few houses had been sold in the town. Sales tax revenue was close to what was budgeted, down only about $5,000.
Another source of unexpected income was the Justice Court. Predicted income was $17,500 but the Town Court has been very busy on Thursday evenings with speeding tickets given out mostly on Route 22, so the amount collected by the Town actually turned out to be $37,000.
Income through the Town Clerk’s office was also higher than expected, up about $1,600, mostly due to an increase in building permits.
Regarding the Transfer Station, Jennings reported that they were close to being on target with income, taking in only about $600 less than budgeted, but expenses turned out to be about $20,000 less than predicted.
Jennings concluded that the Town had ended up the year in a positive way despite taking some money out of the reserves. With some years of experience now, “We are getting better at fine tuning and tweaking the budget,” he said.
New Town Assessor
Jennifer Van Deusen reported that she received notification from the state that she has been approved to serve as Town Assessor. Following completion of a few more training classes, she will receive her certification.
Master Planning Committee Resumes
Councilman PJ Roder announced that the Master Planning Committee will resume its monthly meetings on Monday, January 23 at 7 pm. This is a workshop meeting but all meetings are open to the public. The Committee meets regularly on the third Monday of the month.
Deposits And Spending
The Town Clerk turned over the sum of $407.36 to the Supervisor for the month of December. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $3,354. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $5,861.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $9,624.22 from the General Account and $16,444.56 from the Highway Account.
The Board set its next workshop meeting for Monday, February 13 and its next regular meeting for Monday, February 20, both meetings to begin at 7 pm. [/private]