After a lengthy budget presentation by Supervisor Jack Cunningham, the public got to weigh in on the proposed 6.87 percent tax increase, and the supervisor was chided into making a revelation.
None of you are up for re-election this year and I was wondering if the budget would be up this high if you were up for re-election? asked Delmar resident William Stewart.
Cunningham responded, `I will tell you I run every two years for this office, I intend to run next year for this office, and if I didn’t think this was the reasonable thing to do in the best interest of this community I wouldn’t be sitting here doing it. I don’t set my budget because I am or not running for office, I am doing it because it’s the responsible thing to do.`
Bethlehem unveiled its $38.67 million spending plan for next year during the Wednesday, Sept. 24, board meeting.
Next year, Democratic board member Kyle Kotary and Independence board member Sam Messina are up for re-election, along with Cunningham, a Democrat.
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. Cunningham said the average home assessment in Bethlehem is $285,000 and during his presentation, he told residents that not all tax increases are equal.
The supervisor argued that a much smaller tax increase in other municipalities resulted in a much higher actual dollar amount than what is paid in Bethlehem. Cunningham said town residents enjoy a high level of service for a fairly low dollar amount.
Most of the criticism over the budget was targeted at the size of the actual increase in the face of a potential global economic meltdown. There were a handful of comments directed at the budget and size of the town’s police department.
`In my mind, at this time, tax increases should be need-based only, not on want-based,` resident Robert Miller said.
He said information in the presentation that suggested some things in the budget are necessary because of the potential to affect public safety reflected more of a `want` than a `need.`
`But if I don’t see a crime, then I don’t see a need to increase the police staff, for example, and to increase my taxes,` Miller said.
He argued that the town’s police force constitutes 1.4 officers per 1,000 residents and that number was `much higher` than other towns its size. He said the same number of officers is often found in a city of 600,000 or more.
Robert Jasinski, a former supervisor candidate in town, said he thought the tax increase was much higher then in neighboring municipalities and that more could be done to cut down on departmental expenditures.
`We’ve increased almost every department, I think we should go back and ask the departments what can be cut, and you may find you can still cut some of it,` said Jasinski.
Referring to an interest the town has shown in purchasing a Creble Road property for the public works department, Jasinski suggested the town put that idea on hold until the economy gets better.
`What do we need a $1 million, or $800,000 or $900,000 property on Creble Road for, I can’t see at this time,` said Jasinski.
Cunningham has repeatedly said that the town’s infrastructure needs to be maintained and upgraded in order to prevent situations like what happened earlier this year when aging water meters at the water facility needed to be replaced because they were leaking mercury.
`My income’s not going up 7 percent,` Norman Morand told the board. `Everyone else is taking dramatic steps to keep their budgets down. I don’t see the same dramatic steps being taken here.`
Morand, who is a former Bethlehem Republican Committee member, concluded by saying, `I don’t put faith in these budgets.`
`People are just getting drowned,` Stewart said. `I have a mortgage, and taxes just keep going up and up. The big issue is just trying to keep it down.`
Councilwoman Joann Dawson told residents, `Our responsibility doesn’t end in two weeks,` referring to when the town is expected to vote on the budget proposal.
She said the budget is an ongoing process and could be revisited in the future.
According to Judi Kehoe, the town’s outgoing comptroller who now works full-time with the Bethlehem Central School District, the 6.89 percent tax levy proposal 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.
`As we continue to invest in this community, the community continues to be a great investment,` Cunningham concluded at his presentation. `I’ve realized that people don’t come to this town because the taxes are high or low, they come to this town because it’s a great place to live, and it’s well managed and I think a lot of you are here because of those reasons.“