Cazenovia town residents will see their town tax rates increase slightly in 2014, now that the town board has approved the final 2014 town budget.

The total town budget will be $2,935,466, with $1,235,914 to be raised by taxes. The tax rate for residents town wide (those residing within the village limits) will be $1.31 per $1,000 of assessed value, which is a 16 cent — or 14 percent — increase over the 2013 tax rate. Town residents who live outside the village limits will see a tax rate of $1.44 per $1,000 of assessed value, which is a 10 cent — or 7 percent — increase over the 2013 tax rate.

The town budget contains higher expenditures than 2013 mainly due to increases in town benefits and retirement spending, town supervisor and budget officer Ralph Monforte previously said at the board’s preliminary budget hearing in October.

The budget contains few major changes from last year other than a near doubling of the salary for town supervisor — from $7,900 to $16,000 — which was added to make the job more attractive for potential future candidates.

Monforte also had attempted to remove $125,000 in environmental funding from the tentative budget — which has been used in previous years to fund chemical treatment of the lake, which he believes is not working — but the rest of the board replaced the funds in the preliminary budget. Those funds remained in the final budget which was approved by the board on a 4-1 vote at its Nov. 3 meeting. Monforte voted no to the final budget — as he had voted no to the preliminary budget — because he objected to the continued funding of chemical treatments of the lake.

Copies of the town of Cazenovia 2014 final budget may be viewed and obtained at the town office at 7 Albany St. The preliminary budget is currently available on the town’s website at townofcazenovia.org, and the final budget will also be available online in the future.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia republican. He can be reached at [email protected].