Some proposed cuts within the tentative town budget may not be popular with residents and town staff, but Bethlehem Supervisor John Clarkson believes the plan will continue to provide the services many have become accustomed to.
The tentative budget includes an 8 percent tax increase and the loss of 16 staff positions through attrition. No layoffs are being proposed. The plan also calls for the town to cease funding the Colonial Acres Golf Course.
“With this budget, the comptroller and I tried to balance the needs of this year with those of next year and the years following,” said Clarkson. He added residents made it clear they did not want to see a reduction in services and his plan attempts to do that.
The town needs to close a roughly $3.5 million budget gap for the coming year.
The large gap is due mainly to the loss of a 20-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement with the Selkirk Cogen natural gas plant worth $1.7 million. The older contract was allowing the town to essentially receive the share of payments meant to go to Albany County and the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District. Those two municipalities will now receive their full shares.
The loss of the PILOT means under the new tax cap law’s formula, the town could potentially raise property taxes up to 19 percent to make up the funds. Town board members previously said they would not support placing such a large burden onto residents.
The proposed 8 percent tax increase would equal a hike of about $67 per $250,000 home or $3.54 for every assessed $1,000. Clarkson said the hardest decision was recommending such a comparatively large tax increase from previous years.
“Didn’t want it to be that high, but with the path we’re now on I think I can promise it won’t be that high again in Bethlehem,” he said. “That’s why there a need for us to look at the long term and bite the bullet this year.”
The proposed $37.9 million budget calls for a 1.8 percent decrease in spending from 2012 and a 7 percent decrease in staffing. Positions within the police force, telecommunications office and sewer, water and highway departments would remain unfilled, while one patrol officer and one DPW position were restored.
A total of about $40,000 would be saved by no longer funding the golf course, with an additional $270,000 in capital spending in the future as repairs and upgrades needed on the site are extensive. Clarkson said the proposed cuts wouldn’t mean the course would have to necessarily close.
“There might be a solution to keep it open without receiving such a large subsidy from the town,” he said. “We could always find another use for the site, but either way it will remain open space.”
Other cost saving measures within the plan include reducing operation days at the compost and transfer station, reducing staff hours for the Parks and Recreation Department and increasing field fees to offset maintenance costs. The town’s planning board would also be cut from seven members to five and the town would expand the lockbox service to collect taxes. Those cuts would save roughly $108,000.
Money was also saved by refinancing debt and restructuring ambulance services by allowing third-party insurers to bill for advanced care.
The Supervisor advised using a large portion of the town’s savings to cover about $1.1 million in retirement cost increases for three years. The plan also calls for savings to be used to alleviate the cost of the step-increase of the Albany Water Contract in 2014 and use some funds to update home and commercial assessments throughout town.
Clarkson said he is willing to make adjustments to the plan as needed, but any restorations will require further cuts or an increase in taxes.
“Public needs a sustainable, realistic budget plan and I think that is what we’ve done here,” he said.