The Bergen Town Board has adopted its 2021 Preliminary Budget and set the budget public hearings for Tuesday, October 27. The public hearing on the tax cap override will be at 7 p.m., followed by public hearings on the Fire Department budget at 7:15 p.m. and on the town budget for 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
Facing an unprecedented loss of revenues from the county as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board began cutting 2020 expenses this past spring. Board members took a reduction in pay; some personnel appropriations were trimmed; projects and equipment purchases were put on hold. The moves helped offset a 14.4 percent loss in revenues from Genesee County and 20 percent withhold in various state aid.
The board resolved early in the 2021 budget process to reduce town expenses across the entire budget in order to lessen the impact to property taxpayers. All departments were asked to reduce spending. In addition, a part-time position was eliminated, and all wages were frozen at the 2020 level. The 2021 preliminary budget cuts spending by $179,189 from the 2020 budget. Those savings were overshadowed by the estimated reductions of $181,706 in revenue from the county and $16,775 withhold of state aid.
Another unexpected challenge faced by the Town Board was Genesee County no longer providing sales tax revenue, instead providing revenue that had to be referred to as a “voluntary revenue distribution.” While the money comes from sales tax, as the county no longer has an agreement with towns and villages to share sales tax, the only way they can share the sales tax is to call it a voluntary revenue distribution.
It would seem that simply changing the name of a revenue stream from sales tax sharing to voluntary revenue distributions would not affect a town’s budget, but it has, specifically, the budget of every town in Genesee County that has a village within its border. The NYS Comptroller has opined that voluntary revenue distributions cannot be used by towns with villages to offset expenses like highway repairs and improvements, code enforcement, and building and planning.
That means that for 2021, Bergen will have two different tax rates – one for properties within the village, and one for properties outside the village. While this does occur in other places across the state, Bergen has typically had the same tax rate for all properties.
The result is a tax rate of $1.56 per thousand dollars of assessed value for properties inside the village, a decrease of $0.71 per thousand, and a tax rate of $2.39 for properties in the town outside the village, an increase of $0.12 per thousand over the 2020 rate.
According to the Genesee County Attorney and Manager, “this imbalance should be resolved in time for the 2022 budget.” The county is requesting special legislation from the NY State Legislature to allow the county’s voluntary contribution to be treated like sales tax revenue had been and therefore be able to record the revenue as it had previously.
If the legislation is successfully enacted, the Bergen Town Board plans to return to a uniform tax rate for 2022. Of course, that will result in another swing – taxpayers within the village will see an increase in the 2022 tax bill, while taxpayers outside the village will see a decrease.
In other parts of the budget, the Fire District tax levy will be reduced by $6,295, the tax rate will remain the same for Water District No. 2, and the Peachey Road Water District rate will drop by about $50 per full EDU.
Residents of the new Water Benefit Area #1 will see their first water district tax bill in January. It is anticipated the amount will be $322.16 per EDU this first year and will increase to the expected $550 per EDU in 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the speed at which the water district approvals and bidding process are occurring. The delay means that the water lines will not be completed until September of 2022, and the town will have less debt service to pay on the new water line in 2021 than previously anticipated.
“We are pleased to present a 2021 budget that enables the town to deliver services despite historic financial upheaval,” said Supervisor Ernest Haywood. “We are grateful to all of our department heads who worked with us to accomplish this responsible budget. We certainly hope that 2021 brings the end to the pandemic and economic turmoil. We look forward to our residents being able to enjoy all of the services and programs that the town has long provided.”
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