Brockport adopts 2005-06 budget

Village of Brockport taxpayers will be faced with a tax rate increase following the adoption of the 2005-2006 spending plan.

Officials, by a vote of three to two, adopted the budget at the April 18 board meeting. The $5.8 million budget brings with it a 2.75 percent per $1,000 of assessed value rate increase for tax payers. The rate is set at $8.96 per $1,000, up from $8.72 per $1,000 in 2004-2005.

The budget calls for a total spending plan increase of about two percent or $4,775,723, up from last year's $4,677,272. Village of Brockport Treasurer Ian Coyle previously explained that the tax assessed on a single family home would increase approximately $21 per year.

"Depending on the reassessment figures, individual taxpayers may expect either higher or lower taxes, depending on the assessment," Coyle said.

Most of the increases in the budget come from staff expenses, a reserve fund increase and the ever-increasing cost of medical insurance and retirement benefits. Coyle said the village has been hit with more than 250 percent increases in medical and retirement costs over the past two years.

This year's budget, however, returns about $62,000 to the capital reserve fund. Over the past two budget years the village has spent $400,000 from the reserve fund.

Trustees Mort Wexler and Carrie Maziarz vetoed the budget as it was presented. "The taxes are just too high," Wexler said. Wexler proposed eliminating the water commission as a way to save taxpayer dollars.

Trustee James Whipple explained that the water commissioners, of which he is one, are paid a stipend but that money doesn't come out of the bottom line of the village's budget. "It's a water commission, not a board and in New York state there is a tremendous difference," Whipple said. "The water commission has self generating fees. It is a legitimate business that falls under the Brockport umbrella."

Maziarz asked if the water commission ever makes a profit, where did the profits end up?

Whipple said if a profit is realized it goes back into line items for the water commission. "The water commission doesn't come to the village for money when we need to make repairs," Whipple said. "If the water fund makes money it also helps to pay some salaries throughout the village."

Whipple, who voted to adopt the budget, said that while it wasn't a "perfect" budget, village officials did the best they could.

Maziarz said she doesn't believe the budget sets policy for the village. "It's bare bones and doesn't lend itself to enforcing the codes we've set forth for the village," she said. "And every year we're under budget for legal fees."

Mayor Josephine Matela said the board did the best it could. "We are constantly trying to do more with less," she said of the budget figures.