Despite a handful of pleas to take another look, the Bethlehem Town Board approved its 2009 budget.
The board unanimously approved the proposed 6.89 percent town tax increase on Wednesday, Nov. 12, after a group of residents asked the town to table the budget and propose a zero percent tax increase in the face of a possible national recession.
Residents said more cuts could be made before the budget’s passing and that the town should be willing to make the same financial sacrifices every taxpayer is now facing in a worsening economy.
Supervisor Jack Cunningham, along with fellow board members, said the budget process wasn’t taken lightly and that Bethlehem needs to look out for its financial future.
Putting off tough financial decisions and investments until it’s too late is not an option, the board explained. However, a group of residents, including the town’s Republican Chairwoman Melody Burns, disagreed and spoke against the proposed tax hike.
As a taxpayer, I am asking you to not pass the budget as proposed, but to take it back and make it a zero tax increase budget, Burns told the board. `I know you have until the 20th of November to do that, so you have eight days to review the budget and bring it back to zero.`
Norman Morand, a vocal resident and former Republican committeeman, said town cars should be the first item eliminated from the budget.
`I don’t like the budget. I just recently filed a FOIL request; I want to know who has town-owned cars for their personal use. I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t think Jack Cunningham or the head of the department of public works or anybody deserves a town car,` Morand said. `I don’t have a town car. When I worked for GE they didn’t give me a car — I used my own. Take those items out of the budget.`
Councilman Kyle Kotary addressed the car issue later in the meeting, saying the town had already begun curbing its transportation expenses.
`I wanted to commend the supervisor on actually addressing this months ago by creating a fleet manager position for the first time, taking all of our vehicles and looking at them townwide by pooling them together, and we’re doing exactly what was recommended earlier,` Kotary said. `As for looking to find ways for savings and also putting in operation cuts, this is something that Jack has taken leadership on.`
Resident Robert Miller said he, too, supported a `zero tax increase.`
`I support the zero increase, you have not justified your needs, and I think this is the year you should justify your needs for a tax increase,` Miller said. `There’s no reason for this budget increase.`
Miller spoke against a proposed additional officer to the Bethlehem Police Department during the budget’s public comment meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 22. He said `tax increases should be need-based only, not on want-based,` and that `if I don’t see a crime, then I don’t see a need to increase the police staff.`
He argued at that meeting 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.
However, Bethlehem’s Deputy Police Chief Tim Beebe said Miller’s numbers `were way off.`
Beebe said with an estimated population of 33,922 in Bethlehem and 42 sworn officers, there are 1.26 officers per 1,000 residents. According to the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services, the town had 570 crimes in 2007.
Beebe released statistical information of other municipalities that showed in the city of Albany, which has a population of 94,741, 334 officers dealt with 5,376 crimes in 2007. Albany works out to have 3.52 officers per 1,000 residents.
According to the statistics, Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Rensselaer, Cohoes, Watervliet, Menands, Colonie, Niskayuna, Rotterdam, Scotia, East Greenbush and North Greenbush all have more officers per 1,000 residents than Bethlehem and all have populations under 600,000.
Jared King, a former Bethlehem Republican committeeman, asked, `What about Guilderland?`
`Guilderland is a slightly larger town than Bethlehem and they have 32 officers and we have 42,` King said. `Now, we have Wal-Mart, if you read The Spotlight you’ll see in the blotters that there’s something always going on, but they have Crossgates [Mall].`
Cunningham told King that the Guilderland Police Department may have only 32 officers but that the Village of Altamont, which is a part of Guilderland, has its own police force of `nine or 10 full and part-time officers.`
According to Commissioner A.J. Salerno, the Altamont Police Department has 10 part-time officers and one full-time officer.
King also told board members that he believed a $10,000 increase for `town beautification` was unnecessary and commented that `nobody should be taxed out of their home.`
Other Town Hall regulars asked officials to look at the budget again.
`I also agree we need to take this budget back, things have change dramatically since we put it together. In the last six weeks the economy has really tanked,` said resident Linda Jasinski. `The governor has proposed cuts and said ‘nothing is off the table.’`
Jasinski’s father, Robert Jasinski, a one-time supervisor candidate and Noise Ordinance Task Force member, said with a shaky stock market, now is not the time to have unnecessary expenditures.
`It seems like we all have dreams and wants but there’s a time and place,` he told the board.
Councilman Sam Messina said the tax increase would be $17.45 per $1,000 and that considering the quality of life in Bethlehem, it was a good deal.
`With the average home in Bethlehem around $285,000 that cost would be about $48 a year, and that’s what we’re talking about in terms of total tax levy,` Messina said. `What do people in Bethlehem really want? Jack and Kyle [Kotary] have made this point in the past, people in this community want to keep this a quality community.`
Councilman Kyle Kotary said he is proud of this year’s budget.
`We cut our actual operating and equipment budget this year versus last year, something that very few communities have done. We have implemented more cost-savings measures and found more ways to improve efficiencies over the last couple of years,` Kotary said. `Our fund balances are among the healthiest of any community and our quality of life in Bethlehem has been recognized as one of the best in the nation. Finally, in actual dollars, our town tax rate is among the lowest in the region, and I’m proud to say our hardworking town employees provide some of the best municipal services in the state.`
The supervisor said safety and financial preservation were key to building the 2009 budget.
`The budget process is something that we began in August, it wasn’t something we started last week. We have taken a long, hard look at our expenses and our revenue streams and this was not an easy process to go through,` Cunningham said. `One thing we will not do is put the safety of resident in jeopardy and that safety doesn’t just come with the police department it comes with the highway department, which takes care of our roads.“