Leaders open dialogue, will meet again before vote
A late-hour budget workshop tonight saw members of the Bethlehem Town Board delving into Supervisor Sam Messina’s 2011 executive budget, but after more than two hours of discussion few points of contention had been resolved.
They did, however, broach many of the major and minor disagreements about the plan, and agreed to meet again on Nov. 1 to hopefully settle outstanding issues.
A public hearing on the plan is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 27, and a vote is slated for Nov. 10, though leaders legally have more than a week after that until they must adopt something.
Leaders tackled some fairly substantial topics at Wednesday’s meeting: the tax levy, raises for employees, closing the 2010 budget gap and a plan to defer pension contribution costs were among those discussed.
The last point is the only one on which a solid agreement was reached. Officials decided not to take an option to amortize $144,000 in pension costs, putting that expense back into the 2011 budget but also avoiding paying future interest on the deferral.
But on other matters there was a great deal of back and forth, with a promise to examine different scenarios before meeting again.
The roughly $40 million 2011 executive budget calls for a 1 percent cost of living increase for all town employees, as well as the regular step increases generally granted for years of service (at as cost of $114,000 and $220,000, respectively). Employees would also pay 2 percent more of health insurance costs under the plan.
There were various opinions on whether that formula should change. Councilman Kyle Kotary, for one, proposed leaving all those items at 2010 levels with the possibility of reexamining the situation in time.
`I have no problem going back for a half-year [raise],` he said.
Councilman Mark Jordan argued many town residents aren’t getting raises at their jobs, and state employees might be facing layoffs next year.
`Any increase that we give to our employees is going to be money out of the pockets of our taxpayers,` he said.
Councilwoman Joann Dawson said she would like to give out a raise, but also doesn’t want to overextend the town and force layoffs down the road.
`I am extremely nervous about promising something we’re not able to give,` she said.
Messina said he would be willing to compromise on the step increases, but was clearly reluctant to budge on the 1 percent raise. He argued employees in other area municipalities are, in some cases, seeing 3 or 4 percent raises.
He also argued the 1.8 percent tax increase in his budget is relatively small, especially given a proposed 15 percent Albany County hike.
`I think the people of Bethlehem are willing to pay a slight increaseif they see us doing our jobs,` he said.
Kotary was especially adamant about taking the tax hike to zero, though.
`People are taxed enough in this state,` he said. `They can afford to pay more, but that doesn’t mean they should.`
Closing this year’s revenue gap also saw debate. The town budgeted for receiving more sales tax than is coming in, and even with the situation improving every quarter receipts are still expected to fall something like $350,000 to $400,000 short.
Messina has proposed making up the gap with the town’s reserve savings. The 2010 budget already dips into those funds to keep the tax levy down. Messina argued even by using this extra money, the town would have more than 15 percent of the total budgeted amount left in savings.
Board members, however, have criticized this strategy as short sighted. Several argued town spending is growing out of control and must be reined in. Kotary argued there has been a steady increase in expenditures`actual, expected and planned`from 2009 to 2011.
`What are we doing? 34, 37, 40 [million],` he said. `The tax rates have been held artificially low by dipping into the fund balance.`
Councilman Mark Hennessey pointed to high tax hikes in other communities and warned it could happen in Bethlehem if savings are depleted.
`The reason why all these communities are where they are is because they did what we’re about to do,` he said.
Messina said using just $1.3 million of the fund balance, as budgeted for 2010, would mean slicing another $800,000 in next year’s budget. Town spending has already been substantially pared down in recent years.
`I think finding $800,000 in additional savings is going to be crippling to some of our programs,` he said.
Hennessey has drawn up a list of over $500,000 in spending reductions, which he admits will probably not all be practical. But the board seemed to agree those ideas would be a good starting point for cutting more out of the budget.
Check back to spotlightnews.com or read the Oct. 27 edition of The Spotlight for more on those proposals and the budget.
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