A Message from
Town Supervisor Philip H. Herrington
No Tax Increase for 2010
Well, it’s official. Summer is over. The 2009 Summer Day Camp Program is history. The Farmer’s Market is over, at least for this year. Another successful Summer Concert Series is behind us. And, like every year, once summer is over our attention turns to the budget.
Each year, around this time, the Town begins the process whereby the Annual Budget for the next year is prepared. Simply put, the Annual Budget is our financial plan for the year. It lists all our revenue sources, usually, unfortunately, some kind of tax, but sometimes grants or other governmental funding. It also specifies how much we will spend and on what. Salaries for our employees, equipment, funding for our youth and senior citizens programs, are just examples.
Adoption of the Annual Budget is an interactive process which involves me, as your Supervisor and Budget Officer, the Town Board, Town Department Heads and, last, and probably most importantly, the public. The Budget process starts with me requesting “estimates” from our Department Heads of what they will need in the way of equipment, personnel, and funding to run their Departments for the next calendar year. While we ask our Department Heads to keep their estimates within reason, we encourage them to be creative and think outside the box, which sometimes results in funding requests which are a bit on the high side. But that’s not a problem, as I meet with each Department Head to discuss his or her estimate. That way, I can ask questions and get a better idea of what is really needed. When I’m done reviewing the estimates, and meeting with the Department Heads, I then prepare what is really the “first draft” of the Budget, called the Tentative Budget.
Once the Tentative Budget is prepared, the Town Board, as a whole, and of which I am a Member, becomes involved. The Town Board reviews the Tentative Budget and makes whatever changes, revisions or alterations it deems necessary. At that point, the Tentative Budget becomes the Preliminary Budget. This is where the public gets involved. The Town Board must hold a public hearing on the Preliminary Budget. The public can, and is encouraged, to attend the public hearing, ask questions, and make comments and suggestions. This is your opportunity to be heard on what we raise in taxes, what we spend, and how we spend it. After the public hearing, the Town Board can make additional changes, revisions and alterations to the Budget. The finished product is called the Annual Budget, and that is our spending guide for the year.
As this is being written, I am in the process of putting together my Tentative Budget. As things stand now, my Tentative Budget will not call for any tax increase for next year. While I can’t absolutely guarantee that will be the case, as the process is ongoing as I described above, I am hopeful and very confident that our taxes will remain stable. Speaking for myself and, I think, the rest of the Town Board, we know that people are getting hit hard enough in State and Federal taxes right now, without our adding to the burden. The part of the popular STAR program that benefited everyone has been curtailed, which has resulted in a higher school tax bill for most of us. Those nifty STAR tax rebate checks we were getting used to receiving every year have been discontinued. Fees, which are really taxes in disguise, on many items, such as driver’s licenses and car registrations, have been increased. We’re all about to be required by the State to get new license plates, which appears to be a transparent ruse to “extort” an additional $25 from everyone who needs to drive to get to work, to the doctor, to the grocery store, or whatever. Who the inevitable income tax increases, Federal and State, will impact is, as yet, unclear, but certainly many of us will be affected. By keeping your town taxes stable, we are trying to do our own small part and not add to your burden.
But it’s not easy. Fiscally, 2009 was a bad year for the entire world, and we are certainly no exception. Our revenues are way down. For example, we’re not taking in nearly what we used to in building permit fees because hardly anyone is building. Our sales tax revenue is down because people are being more careful about what they spend. The State Retirement System fund balance is shrinking due to the condition of the stock market, so our retirement contributions on behalf of our employees are being significantly increased. Also, as those of you fortunate enough to have money in the bank know, interest rates are way down, so our interest income from our fund balance is way down as well. To avoid adding to your overall tax burden in these difficult times, we are doing a number of things. First, we are significantly reducing spending in both the Highway Fund and the General Fund. Every Department’s budget allocation is being trimmed. We are closely working with our insurance advisors to keep our spending for medical insurance, worker’s compensation coverage, and liability insurance in check. Some spending, though, is just beyond our control. It would be nice, for example, if we could avoid further defense costs on the Brunswick Smart Growth litigation challenging several planned development district approvals, which appears to be headed for further appeals, even though every Court which has ruled to date has upheld our actions in all respects. It just seems like a real waste of your tax dollars. We have also decided to use a portion of our fund balance to help balance the Budget without raising taxes. It’s never any fun to “raid the cookie jar”, but these are difficult times. And, not to worry, we will still have a significant fund balance to serve as a cushion against an unforeseen calamity or emergency. This healthy fund balance is a direct result of our prudent financial management practices over the years.
That’s all for now. Hope you are all enjoying your Autumn.
©
2010
Town of Brunswick
336 Town Office Road, Troy, New York 12180
Telephone: 518/279-3461 FAX : 518/279-4352
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