If the town of Clay’s 2015 budget remains unchanged, residents will see a 3.38 percent increase in their property taxes, which amounts to $10.21 per household on a $100,000 house outside the village of North Syracuse. Residents inside the village will see a decrease of $5.58 a year.
The board held an informational hearing on the proposed budget at its regular board meeting Monday, Oct. 20.
“We do the best we can to minimize any tax increases,” said Supervisor Damian Ulatowski.
The total 2015 budget is $13,519,814, an increase of $692,000 over last year. The growth includes mandated increases in salaries and wages (2.5 percent), employee benefits (5.1 percent) and pensions, healthcare and Social Security ($190,000). It also includes additional code enforcement officers to keep up with demand within the town, as well as $50,000 for paving costs and $226,000 for new plows, which will be paid off in two years.
The budget includes a decrease in debt service of $67,000. Ulatowski also pointed to savings the town has netted thanks to the installation of solar panel arrays behind Town Hall and the town highway garage on Route 31. The arrays were obtained through grants from NYSERDA and the state.
“There were no out-of-pocket costs to the town for those, but they’re generating power,” Ulatowski said. “We’re reducing our energy costs in this building [town hall] by almost a third, and at the highway garage by almost half.”
Ulatowski anticipated further savings over the years thanks to the solar arrays.
The town has also installed GPS systems in all town vehicles to reduce fuel costs and will be installing a new phone system at Town Hall by the end of the month, which Ulatowski said will reduce monthly operational costs.
Ulatowski emphasized that the budget presented Monday night was tentative.
“We’ll continue to work to lower costs even further,” he said. “Our goal is to get under the tax cap.”
Despite that goal, the town board held a public hearing to pass a local law to exceed the 2 percent tax cap just in case they were unable to make sufficient cuts, as it has the last few years. But Ulatowski said the move was just a precaution.
“The past couple of years, we have been under the tax cap,” he said. “We will strive to do that again. We’re some $115,000 off from getting under the cap, and in the next couple of weeks before we have to submit this [to the state on Nov. 20], we will get there.”
Councilor Jim Rowley said while Clay should be able to get under the cap, other towns might not be able to do so.
“It’s particularly onerous this year, because according to the inflation index provided by the state, [towns] can only raise taxes by 1.56 percent this year,” Rowley said. “The inflation factor is a broad-based measure of inflation that has nothing to do with the cost structure of a town. It’s going to put, not this town, but other towns in harm’s way from a fiscal perspective. It’s going to make it more difficult for them to provide services.”
Given the need for paving throughout the town, resident Russ Mitchell suggested creating some kind of paving districts to cover the costs.
“I’m looking for something that’s not going to kill the bottom line on taxes, but everyone will be okay with it provided we see results,” Mitchell said. “[Paying for paving] with grants is fine, but as I go around town, our neighborhood streets are in bad shape. We all know that. I’m looking for something that will [help the town] keep up with this a little better than we are.”
Ulatowski said he had discussed the possibility with the town attorney, Robert Germain, but it would not be a part of the 2015 budget.
“There are some hurdles we have to get over,” he said. “Once the tax cap was put in place, it became more difficult to create special districts. Some of those charges would count against the cap. But it is on our radar to do something exactly like you’re suggesting. In a town the size of Clay, there’s no way we can keep up with the deterioration of our roads.”
The town will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget at its Nov. 5 meeting.
