A special budget meeting has been scheduled for next week for the town of Fenner, after which the final budget will be voted on by the town board. The meeting was scheduled during the board’s Nov. 8 regular monthly meeting after a 45-minute public hearing on the budget, during which the supervisor said changes needed to be made in the preliminary budget before it could be voted on.
The town’s preliminary budget, released last month, was a $1.1 million budget that included $490,000 to be raised by taxes and a town tax rate of $3.87 per every $1,000 of assessed value — an increase of 80 cents from last year’s town tax rate.
The large increase is due to many factors, said Supervisor David Jones, including increases in employee benefits, fire and ambulance protection costs and the need to purchase a new truck for the highway department.
During a public hearing on the budget this week, Jones said the tax rate will be 10 cents per $1,000 less than was announced last month, after some of the budget assumptions changed. The main change was in the revenue the town will receive from county sales tax receipts.
Every town receives a portion of county sales tax receipts every year, but the amount is estimated during the budget process. The amount for Fenner was estimated at $76,000, but the actual revenue will be $219,000 Jones said. That large influx will help reduce the tax rate, he said.
Resident Paula Douglas asked during the public hearing why town officials and employees received a 2 percent pay increase this year given the large tax increase in the tax rate. “Our salaries seem to be getting out of hand,” she said.
Jones said no raises were given last year, but the amount of time spent by town officials conducting public business justifies a raise. He also said that if town salaries are not increased — especially those for town councilors and town supervisor — it will be increasingly difficult to find anyone in the town willing to take such a job with a lot of work and a little pay.
“I don’t think we’re out of line with what we’re doing,” Jones said. “To get people to serve we need to make it attractive. As one county supervisor said, all we get are retired people who don’t go to Florida … it probably doesn’t look good [to have a raise this year] but you won’t get people to serve for the amount of money we’re paying.”
The changes to the preliminary budget will be made to the document, which will be posted on the town website before the Nov. 15 special meeting, Jones said. To view the budget visit the town website at townoffenner.com or go to the town office.
