Daily Archives: January 10, 2012

After watching towns endure budget season and the hassle of the new tax cap, other municipalities are going through the process — and the headaches — of determining budgets with their respective levy caps.

For Hornell, remaining under the cap won’t be easy.

Without passing an override law, the city can raise its total tax levy by 2 percent for the upcoming budget year, according to Mayor Shawn Hogan. Somewhat confusingly, the levy can increase 2 percent without requiring the passage of an override law, but the actual tax rate could increase approximately 6 percent at the same time.

In dollar figures, the city can raise an additional $162,869 from last year’s levy and remain under the cap. While that still would barely cover the increases in pension costs, it’s better than Hogan expected. The mayor previously stated the city would only be able to add $56,000 to its levy and remain at a 2 percent increase.

The budget is still being determined, but if the city wants to continue fully funding its current programs and departments, it would have to increase the levy by more than 2 percent, said Hogan.

As expected, the city’s pension costs will rise with the coming budget. For regular employees, pension costs are projected to rise from $386,000 to $414,833, while those of police and fire employees are anticipated to jump from $662,958 to $766,063.

Due to exemptions built into the tax cap formula, $13,388 from the employee pension costs and $64,488 from the police and fire costs are added onto the city’s levy.

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A committee looking at ways Painted Post can save taxpayers money believes the best option is to dissolve the village.

Recent financial crises prompted village officials to form the ad hoc committee about a year ago to look at the possibility of shared services with the surrounding Town of Erwin.

Committee Chairman Phillip Roche presented a final report to village trustees Monday night.

The committee offered three options — shared services, functional consolidation or dissolution. In the latter case, village governance would be fully taken over by the town.

All things considered, dissolution would save the most money while preserving vital services, Roche said.

“The best-case scenario could result in a 43 percent tax decrease for village residents,” Roche said. “If I could get the same services at a lower cost, that’s the best way to go. I don’t see a whole lot of argument to maintain the current structure. We’re trying to take emotions out of this, and keep this strictly financial.”

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