By DENISE A. RAYMO
Staff Writer
Sat, May 17 2008
—
MALONE -- Taxes would go up more than 17 percent if the tentative Malone village budget for 2008-09 were passed as is.
But village trustees and Mayor Brent Stewart held their first work session Tuesday to start paring down the spending plan, which has increased 8.27 percent from this year, according to Village Treasurer Dorothy Maguire.
TAX LEVY UP
The overall tentative budget for 2008-09 is $6,995,565, which is $534,399 more than the budget adopted for 2007-08.
The amount to be raised by taxes is up 17.58 percent from $2,915,555 this year to $3,428,031 in 2009.
The tentative tax rate per $1,000 of assessed-property value stands at $22.60, compared to $19.22 per $1,000 in this year's budget.
A homeowner with property valued at $100,000 would see a $337.79 tax increase.
These are the raw numbers calculated from requests made by the village's department heads, Maguire said, and the figures will decrease as more budget sessions are held.
FUEL, HEALTH COSTS
The largest increases are blamed on fuel costs for heating the village's buildings and for operating heavy equipment and its fleet of vehicles.
Health insurance also went up, Maguire said, and a request for the second phase of upgrades to recreation equipment is also in the budget.
The figures released this week do not include any changes to the sewer and water rates, but they may be a topic as work sessions continue, she said.
BUDGET SESSIONS
Tuesday's meeting was with representatives from the Department of Public Works.
Three more budget sessions are scheduled, including one beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, where Police Chief Steve Stone will meet with the Village Board about his financial picture. He will be followed by Justice Court officials, code-enforcement officers and Village Clerk Tammy LaValley.
The Village Board will meet with representatives from the Malone Recreation Park and Malone Minor Hockey Association at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, April 3.
Maguire said the final session, which will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 5, again involves Public Works, if more work is necessary, and any other miscellaneous issues that arise.
"They could have an additional meeting after that, but we have to have a public hearing on the budget before April 15," the treasurer said. "That would be cutting everything short."
The sessions are open to the public.
TAXABLE LIMIT
One area the board will again concentrate on is lowering the village's taxable limit, which is the amount of the total spending that is raised through taxes. Malone's taxable limit is higher than what the State Comptroller's Office wants to see.
The state considers a tax limit of 80 percent in the caution zone and 90 percent in the danger zone.
The village's taxable limit is now 87.72 percent, but it grows to 94.06 percent in the tentative budget.
"Our goal is to get it down to 80 percent," Maguire said, which will be worked on incrementally rather than confined to one budget year.
draymo@pressrepublican.com
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.