The Town of Bethlehem unveiled its $38.67 million spending plan for next year during its Wednesday, Sept. 24, meeting.
The proposed budget constitutes a 2.8 percent spending increase over this year’s $37.63 million budget and an overall 6.89 tax rate increase for the town’s combined general fund, highway department tax rate, and water and sewer district tax rates.
The proposed tax rate increase would result in a $17.45 increase per $100,000 of assessed value. Supervisor Jack Cunningham said the average home assessment in Bethlehem is $285,000.
According to Judi Kehoe, the town’s outgoing comptroller who has taken a job with the Bethlehem Central School District, the tax levy increase is being proposed at 6.89 percent. However, the 6.89 percent increase combined with the expanded assessment base will result in an increase of 7.3 percent in revenues to the town from property taxes, she said.
In opening the presentation, Cunningham said balancing this year’s budget was difficult on many different levels, citing a bad economy, poor consumer confidence, and the challenge of balancing `what was desirable and what was absolutely necessary` for the town.
The supervisor said that a large chunk of the budget was going to pay for town employees and their benefits, but that `our employees in Town Hall are our biggest assets` and that the town has to be as committed to them as they are committed to the town.
Cunningham said many of the town’s employees work long hours and could make much more money in the private sector, but are instead `committed to the community` they live and work in.
Some of the revenue projections were promising, however, Cunningham said, especially considering the economy and the fact that Bethlehem is `not exempt` from the economic woes nationwide.
In particular, Cunningham pointed to the now town-operated Colonial Acres Golf Course, which has already netted a profit of $20,000 even though the season isn’t over and the golf course was only projected to break even in the first year owned by the town.
`We’re looking at this as an increasing revenue source for the town,` he said.
Cunningham mentioned other budget items like the $5.2 million project to upgrade the town’s sewer pump stations and several townwide studies, including farming and agricultural studies, and the Delaware Avenue and Route 9W studies.
He also mentioned three initiatives for inter-municipal cooperation to help consolidate services and save money, including joining the Albany County Storm Water Coalition; joining the study for the Albany County Health Insurance Consortium; and looking at consolidating 911 call centers around the county.
The town is looking at a challenging couple of years ahead as it is looking to stop dipping into its reserve fund balance to close financial gaps in the budget each year.
`We are currently into our reserve funds. We have been using our reserve funds for the last five years,` Cunningham said during a budget interview. `There’s a gap between expenditures and our income, and we are closing that gap each year with our reserves.
`The challenge for me is to stop doing that,` he concluded. `If we continue down that road there won’t be any reserves left.`
Although Bethlehem may be better off then neighboring municipalities such as Colonie, Cunningham said, the town has to find a way to reduce costs and raise revenues. However, the only revenue stream the town controls is local taxes because sales tax revenues and mortgage tax revenues are dependent upon current economic trends.
A flat tax to residents, such as what Colonie has proposed, is not feasible for Bethlehem, the supervisor said.
`If we applied a single fee to the residents of Bethlehem,` said Cunningham referring to Colonie, `that would be equivalent to a 50 percent tax increase to our residents.`
Cunningham said the county as a whole may have to take some action in order to alleviate some of the financial pressures on the local municipalities, such as when Albany County temporarily raised sales taxes a few years ago.
At the presentation at Town Hall, Kehoe crunched the proposed budget numbers for the board, stating that salary and health benefits constituted 55 percent of the new spending plan.
She said equipment costs were down and the retirement system costs were stable, but that health insurance was up 14 percent and there are large increases in energy spending and petroleum-based products such as asphalt for the highway department.
The highway fund expenditures is proposed to raise 4.7 percent, said Kehoe, but the highway department will keep the current staff level of 56 employees in place despite the increased demand on its services.
The town is also looking at a 4.7 percent increase in expenditures, Kehoe said, and is planning on hiring an additional police officer in either June or July, but added that bringing the police force up to 44 members had little impact on the budget.
The sewer tax rate is being proposed to increase 4 percent, or $1.18, and there will be a quarterly $4.50 flat fee for the water and sewer districts.
The town board scheduled a public hearing on the proposed budget for Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m. Cunningham said the proposed budget is available to the public at the town clerk’s office in Town Hall or on the town’s Web site.
The proposed Bethlehem budget increase of 6.89 percent does include Albany County taxes and other special districts.“