General News: Village Budget Passes After Lively Debate
January 23, 2007
The village board of trustees approved a new budget for fiscal year 2007-8 at Monday’s night meeting that will include a property ax hike of 2.5% to $8.09 per thousand dollars of assessment. Water rates will go up 3% to $7.25 per thousand gallons for village residents and to $12.34 for town residents. Last year, property taxes increased 6%.
The vote came after a public hearing in which nine local residents, including two candidates for public office, questioned many of the budget items and asked the board to work harder to reduce expenses. Suggestions were made about how to save a little here and there, like the $2,500 that goes to the fire company’s annual inspection dinner.
Two of the people in attendance, George Berger and Susan Ostrander, questioned the 4% raise for the trustees and the mayor, which would raise their salaries to $12,800 and $7,500 respectively. Before passing the budget, Trustee William Fogarty introduced a motion to eliminate the salary increase. It passed unanimously, along with the rest of the budget that was approved intact.
The hour-and-twenty minute discussion of the budget was a big change from previous years. In 2006, only one person came to the public hearing to discuss the budget. In 2005, no one showed up.
Monday’s meeting was a lesson in village government, with discussion about debt servicing, reserve funds, and how police cars are replaced. Trustee Mark Edsall defended the reserve funds, explaining that “if something happens, then you have the money to make repairs.” Without reserve funds to meet unexpected costs for repairs, the village may have to take on additional debt, adding interest expense, he said.
This current year’s spending, Mayor Moulton said, is “pretty much on track,” with $650,000 left in the budget to finish out the fiscal year.
When the village board meeting ended after two and a half hours, Brigid Flynn, a local resident, said that she still thought there was a lot of fat in the budget. She also said she was “disappointed that people don’t turn out for these meetings.” Flynn, an Irish immigrant, said the apathy in the village is a “disgrace.” But for the village board members who have faced little to no public input in the recent past, Monday’s night’s discussion marked a major shift in citizen involvement in the budget process.
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