Liverpool trustees consider $3.6 million budget

VILLAGE OF LIVERPOOL – At its March 20 meeting the Liverpool Village Board of Trustees scheduled a public hearing for 7 p.m. Monday, April 10, regarding the proposed 2023-2024 village budget.
The proposed $3,614,489 million budget calls for spending more than $502,000 on capital projects, including the purchase of a new department of public works mini dump-truck for $71,000, a police vehicle for $54,000 plus various payments to help improve the village hall’s roof and its heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system.
The 2023-24 budget includes $70,000 to update the village’s comprehensive plan.
Last year’s village budget came in at $2,944,337, while the proposed budget calls for $670,000 more spending. To balance the budget, $455,789 will need to be transferred from the village fund balance, according to Village Clerk Mary Ellen Sims.
“As a result of under-spending, we currently have $1 million in our fund balance,” Mayor Gary White observed. “We’ve got to get that fund down to a reasonable number.”
The 2021-22 budget reduced the village’s tax rate from $12.45 per $1,000 of assessed value to $11.95 per $1,000, after the 2020 reassessment of village properties by the town of Salina.
If the budget is passed as is, a village property assessed at $100,000 will receive a tax bill for $1,195. White told the trustees that he’d like to see a nominal lowering of the tax rate.
Along with the taxes, village property owners must also pay a $130 annual sewer-fund assessment.
The trustees must adopt its 2023-24 spending plan by May 1.
Residents and property owners are welcome to comment on the proposed budget at the April 10 public hearing at the village hall, 310 Sycamore St.