Parma taxpayers to see rate increase

The Town of Parma's preliminary budget is not as "bare bones" as Supervisor Rick Lemcke would like to see but he said it was a challenging year. "We did come up with a preliminary budget but not without controversy," he said. "Although people say we have had an increase on our economic status, all of our costs - like those of every employer - are going up."

The proposed tax rate for the town in 2007 will be increased by 2.6 percent or $2.79. The current tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation is $2.71. The total appropriations for 2007 are $4,464,279, total revenue $2,331,565, appropriated fund balance, $244,500 and the amount to be raised by taxes is $1,888,232.

In 2006, the total appropriations were $4,242,843, revenue, $2,193,571, appropriated fund balance, $298,500. The total to be raised by taxes in 2006 was $1,750,772.

The town is dealing with increases in employee healthcare benefits and rising utility and fuel costs. "We tried to keep the increase to under three percent, and we were able to do that because we had money left in our fund balance," he said. "This town board has some serious decisions to make (moving forward)."

Lemcke said town officials have to look at additional cost saving measures. "The budget gives us financial guidelines, but when we get to our organizational board meeting in January we need to look at other ways to save taxpayer dollars," he said. "When we have to cut town celebrations and funding for the library for book purchases we really need to look at other areas and trim there if we can."

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for November 8 at the Town Hall.

October 29, 2006