Though it doesn’t yet have a budget to present, the town of Lysander will seek public comment on it next month.
The Lysander Town Board voted Oct. 20 to authorize Town Clerk Lisa Dell to advertise for public hearings for the 2015 preliminary budget and a local law to exceed the 2 percent state tax cap. The hearings will be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 6, in the auditorium of Lysander Town Hall.
New York state law requires that municipalities and counties not raise property taxes by more than 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Councilor Andy Reeves quoted the rate in Lysander as 1.5 percent. Local governments may pass a local law overriding that tax cap, however.
In the work session preceding Monday’s meeting, councilors Roman Diamond and Bob Geraci expressed concerns about exceeding the tax cap.
“We don’t need to risk raising taxes,” Diamond said during the board’s regular meeting.
Councilor Melinda Shimer, acting as deputy supervisor at the meeting in Supervisor John Salisbury’s absence, said the town is not “through with the budget process.”
Reeves said the town has yet to determine where financial packages, bargaining unit agreements and the Lysander Radisson Community Arena will figure in the budget. The town board planned three budget work sessions this week: Oct. 21, 22 and 23, all at 5 p.m.
Reeves said passing the local law to exceed the tax cap does not necessarily mean the town has to raise taxes above the state’s 1.5 percent limit.
“There’s an excellent chance this will never happen. We don’t have enough numbers yet. We think we can come in within the 1.5 [percent],” Reeves said. “It would be irresponsible of us not to at least schedule this.”
Diamond voted against the public hearing for the tax cap law, but the resolution to advertise for the public hearing passed with “aye” votes from Geraci, Shimer and Reeves.
Ice rink needs more repairs
The town board approved an additional $28,950.19 to Davis Mechanical for repairs to the Lysander Radisson Community Arena. Last month, the board voted to spend $50,000 on repairs to the ice rink.
Sometime during the night of Oct. 19 or the early morning of Oct. 20, a power surge in the town caused the breakdown of compressors at the purple rink. The replacement of the compressor, a valve replacement in the red rink, 1,250 pounds of refrigerant and other labor and materials led to the additional price tag for the repairs.
Town engineer Allen Yager recommended during Monday’s work session that the town pursue a service contract with Davis Mechanical because of the extent of repairs needed at the ice arena.
During the regular meeting, Diamond said he believes the town should sell the rink to a private company because of the increasing cost of “Band-Aid” repairs.
“It’s a great benefit to this community, but it’s extremely expensive,” Diamond said.
