Officials say 2011 planning process most difficult in years
After several weeks of deliberations on the 2011 budget, the one thing that’s clear in the Town of Bethlehem is that there are no easy decisions to be made in the coming weeks.
Town leaders have been meeting several times a week with department heads to go over projections for next year, and that work has resulted in a tentative 2011 budget that was discussed at a Thursday, Sept. 2, workshop. Supervisor Sam Messina will present the final version of his budget to the Town Board in a few weeks.
He was quick to acknowledge the difficult times ahead.
I don’t think Bethlehem has ever faced such a challenging year, and I’m trying to deal with a really difficult revenue reduction, and in some cases uncontrollable expenditure increases, he said in a recent interview.
Those increases are chiefly in pension contribution and health insurance costs. For 2011, the town’s contribution to the state retirement system is slated to rise 28 percent to nearly $1.9 million, and health-care costs are expected to rise more than 10 percent. This is on the heels of similar jumps in this year.
Additionally, the contract with the police union calls for a 2 percent raise for police officers (they received none last year). That contract is up in 2012.
These factors, combined with an economy that shows few signs of revival, as well as disarray in state government, makes for a perfect storm of sorts, said Councilman Kyle Kotary.
`It’s probably the most dire financial situation the town’s been in in 30 years or more, certainly in recent memory,` he said.
The tentative budget calls for an increase in spending of about $2.2 million, a tax hike of 2 percent, a 1 percent `cost of living adjustment` for town employees and the `step` pay increases normally offered for years on the job.
Also included are a bevy of cuts, like a 10 percent pay cut for town, planning and zoning board members and Supervisor Messina; the closing of the landfill and compost facilities on Monday; a huge reduction in highway beautification (like the installation of many of the summer hanging flower baskets); and a 2 percent increase in the employee share of health-care costs.
Also included in the tentative draft of the town’s budget is a
provision to wed output from the town’s Clapper Road and New Salem water treatment plants into a unified water system.
Additional revenue items would include increased dog licensing fees, higher recreation department usage fees and the institution of a false alarm fee for the police department (estimated revenue there: $27,500).
Comptroller Suzanne Traylor said she generally kept sales tax, mortgage tax and other variable revenues flat at 2009 levels in figuring the estimates.
It’s important to note no decision has been made as a result of any of the deliberations so far, and much of the budget process remains ahead.
Even with hundreds of thousands in cuts and new revenues, all four funds would dip into reserves to the tune of about $2.1 million to make for a balanced budget. They would still leave above the 15 percent of the total budget, which is what leaders maintain is vital for a healthy town, but every year the budget crisis continues, coffers are taxed further.
Kotary said he hopes Messina changes the budget numbers in the next few weeks.
`His approach appears to be unaffordable and irresponsible and not based in reality,` he said after the meeting. `The board was shocked, we were surprised, we were even blindsided by his budget proposal, which looks at this point nothing like we all had discussed.`
Councilman Mark Hennessey echoed those thoughts.
`It’s borrowing from the future, stealing from the past, to pay for a budget that’s hundreds of thousands, if not millions, out of balance,` he said.
Messina said the budget proposal is a fairly austere one given the conditions.
`I feel that this budget is absolutely balanced in the way that it needed to be,` he said. `We’ve demonstrated the willingness to make some cuts that we had to make and I really appreciate the department heads working with me and once again tightening their belts.`
Adding to the issues surrounding the budget process is the uncertainty of the current year’s finances. Due to projections that sales tax receipts will be less than anticipated, the town is looking at a roughly $500,000 budget gap, even factoring in efficiencies found during the year that are bringing expenditures in under budget. The gap could run up to $1.5 million in worst-case scenarios.
Messina said the numbers are an incomplete picture and he’ll be looking toward concrete numbers that will come in later before taking drastic action.
`What we will have to see is what happens in terms of projected revenue versus actual revenues in the end of September and end of December,` he said.
But others on the Town Board have been stressing a plan for this year’s finances needs to be implemented now, so the town isn’t left taking all of the difference out of reserves.
`We’re not going to wake up Dec. 30 and say, we got to find $500,000 under the cushions,` said Hennessey.
And whenever the size of the budget comes up, the size of the town’s workforce is inevitably a subtopic. A reduction in seasonal personnel and part-time hours has been included in workshop figures, but it remains to be seen if further cuts are ahead.
Town leaders were adamant that with all the cutbacks of recent year, the budget is already a lean one.
`Moving forward, the truth of the matter is we cannot cut or shrink the size of the workforce through attrition without experiencing cuts or declines in services,` Kotary said.
`I think people are going to notice some changes. But I hope they realize that there are bigger issues at hand,` said Councilwoman Joann Dawson.
But at least for the next few weeks, the task of making these hard decisions sits with Messina, who is to present his budget to the Town Board and the public at a Sept. 22 meeting (town law stipulates it must be on file with the town clerk no later than Sept. 30).
`My approach in budgeting … was to be looking in detail at things, to look at the edges where we can make reasonable savings while continuing the quality of programs,` Messina said. `People are going to have to understand that we can’t do everything. … To the best I can, I will avoid impacting people through layoffs.`
It’s likely an Oct. 27 public hearing will be held on the budget, with a vote on the final budget slated for the Nov. 10 board meeting.
A budget must be in adopted before Nov. 20 under town law.“
