Town of Riga passes 2007 budget

With the deadline looming, officials in the Town of Riga passed its 2007 spending plan on Monday, December 11.

"With only nine days until the deadline for passing the budget, we finally agreed on the passage of a $2.9 million plan," Town Councilman Robert Ottley said.

Supervisor Pamela Moore wrote in an email that the public hearing process on the budget this year was different; instead of the town taking comments from residents during the public hearing process, town officials responded to questions raised and made it a dialogue for the citizens who spoke. "One gentleman had a question on the water district public hearing and the president of the Clifton Fire Department spoke at the public hearing for the fire districts," she said. "He thanked me and the town board for opening the process up this year for their participation and he said he looked forward to working with us in the future."

The third and final public hearing was on the preliminary budget, Moore said. "Several individuals asked questions to which we responded. No one spoke against the preliminary budget as presented."

The adopted budget calls for an increase in spending of 9.86 percent over the 2006 budget not including capital projects. The increase in spending is caused by several key factors, Ottley said, including the overall salary increases for most town employees that were held at three percent. "Benefits and mandatory insurances increased by 15 percent," he said. "Additional increases in the budgets for the operations portion of running the offices of the town and courts, and town building maintenance, accounted for increase between 39 to 60 percent."

Funding was also increased by 46 percent for senior programming and the salary of the building inspector and fire code enforcement officer increased by 50 percent.

Ottley said that, "In addition to these increases, the town board also is spending an additional $34,250 on maintaining and upgrading its pavilions and lodges in the parks, as well as some upgrades to parking facilities."

Capital projects planned for 2007 include $15,000 for completing the multi-purpose field at South Sanford Road; $60,000 for extending a sidewalk on the north side of Buffalo Road from the village to the town hall; $5,000 for a study of forming drainage districts, and $5,000 for any additional capital project studies. The total capital expenditures amounted to $85,000 for 2007, a decrease from the $440,000 budgeted in 2006.

"This budget, as adopted, shows a surplus of $192,830," Ottley said. Unlike most other municipalities, the Town of Riga hired a consultant to compile budget figures. "I was not happy with the process and the fact that the process took so long is proof that it wasn't a good process," Ottley said. "It needs to be looked at before next year."

Moore said she introduced a motion to approve the budget, and it was approved five to zero.

"There will be no real property taxes collected, all services will be provided from revenue collected, the majority of which comes from the landfill," she said. "We will have a surplus and that will go into our unexpended fund balance. The next step is to move along to developing multi-year plans, including establishing reserve accounts for the future and funding capital projects which the community wishes to see us provide."

December 17, 2006