Schenectady County leaders are eyeing a proposed 2013 budget with a tax hike more than double what is allowed under the tax cap after residents pleaded for a plan with a lower tax levy.
The Schenectady County Legislature on Monday, Oct. 1, held a special meeting before its scheduled committee meetings and voted to override the tax cap to allow County Manager Kathleen Rooney to present a budget exceeding a tax levy increase of 2.95 percent, the maximum allowed. Later on Monday, Rooney unveiled her proposed spending plan with a 7.5 percent tax levy increase, totaling $296 million, a 0.26 percent increase over this year’s spending plan.
“We all know this has been a fairly difficult process and it has also been a fairly difficult budget to construct this year,” Rooney said to legislators.
The legislature approved overriding the tax cap by a vote of 11-4, with Republican James Buhrmaster, Conservative Holly Vellano and Democrats Angelo Santabarbara and Thomas Constantine opposing it.
Majority Leader Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, said if people only look at the 7.5 percent increase proposed it appears significant. Hughes pointed out that the legislature over the past three years has not increased the tax levy, and decreased it twice.
“When we were able to save and did not have to ask the taxpayers for more we didn’t ask,” Hughes said. “The manager says this is the year we need to increase property taxes.”
Hughes said the legislature would review the budget “extraordinarily carefully” over the next three weeks to see if there are any ways to reduce spending. He said many Democratic legislators want to maintain services while meeting increased mandated costs.
“We strongly understand our obligation to the taxpayer,” Hughes said.
Medicaid costs are projected to total $34.6 million next year, which is an increase of $680,000. Retirement costs are estimated to total $13.6 million next year, which is an increase of around $1.5 million. Since 2009, mandated costs have increased $17 million.
“We were hoping that we would see a bit more change in mandate relief,” Rooney said. “Unfortunately, we have just not seen that mandate relief that we have all hoped for.”
Rooney said the county couldn’t weather another years of mandated costs continuing to rise without raising taxes for the first time in three years.
“We have done everything we can to absorb those (costs) and to make changes,” she said, “but the cumulative affect of the constant increase in the mandates has really caused us now to have to take a different tact.”
Buhrmaster said there are “nonessential” jobs the county could afford previously, but now must look to eliminate.
“Clearly, the atmosphere out there is we can’t increase taxes,” he said. “We need some hard decisions and some tough cuts.”
A county resident with a home assessed at $100,000 could expect an increase of $47 on their tax bill, and a $150,000 assessed home would be taxed an extra $71.
Rooney said county taxes account for around 16 to 20 of a residents overall tax bill depending the municipality.
Residents demand tax cap remain
Residents provided their input on the proposal to override the tax cap during a public hearing on Friday, Sept. 28, and speakers opposed the measure by a margin of around 2-1.
The Chamber of Schenectady County President Charles Steiner said exceeding the tax cap would be bad for existing business and attracting new development.
“Please do not let the short-term solution of raising property taxes damage the long-term redevelopment efforts we have all worked so hard to accomplish,” Steiner said.
Though businesses are starting to recover, Steiner said they are not “out of the woods yet” and very challenging times are still ahead.
Pointing to county’s unemployment rate of more than 8 percent, Steiner said it is double the rate seen five years ago. New York State holds an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, according to data from the state Department of Labor.
Niskayuna resident Don Cazer said he was “shocked” to find out the legislature was looking to exceed the tax cap.
“We should support the leadership from Cuomo to try to make our state more competitive,” Cazer said. “I live on a pension and social security and in Niskayuna and my school tax, town tax and county tax is $1,000 a month and I cannot afford that.”
He said he might move to Saratoga County to avoid local taxes and get relief.
There were some people supporting an override of the tax cap, so services wouldn’t be diminished to nonprofit organizations and the most needy residents.
Niskayuna resident Ann DiSarro, who’s worked for nearly 40 years serving elderly residents, urged legislators to not diminish established services. She applauded legislators for being “a model in the state” for providing services for elderly residents.
“The needs of the community are greater than they have ever been,” DiSarro said. “This is not the time to abandon what you got in place.”
She said even eliminating one position can have drastic affects to services, because staff members already are stretched thin and do more than one job’s tasks.
Brian McGarry, former Republican candidate for Rotterdam Town Supervisor and Duanesburg schoolteacher, said some residents wouldn’t stick around if taxes were raised.
“They won’t simply sit here and take it,” McGarry said. “Do not override the property tax cap, please.”
Larry DeAngelus, Schenectady resident and real estate attorney, echoed McGarry’s remarks.
“Most of the friends I have made over the past few years through my daughters being in school and I meet parents, they are gone, they fled,” DeAngelus said, “and they think I am a fool for sticking around and sometimes I think they are right.”
Terresa Bakner, president of the Board of Directors of Cornell Cooperative Extension, said not letting down “a segment of our population down” is equally important to people’s concerns on taxes tightening their wallets.
The Rev. Joe Roof, a Schenectady resident and father of four, said residents in Schenectady County are taxed “beyond the max.” He said most residents couldn’t afford a tax increase exceeding the state mandated cap.
“The reality is although the taxes get raised we have the same problem every cycle,” Roof said. “Do not raise taxes at all.”