Property owners in the Village of Brockport will pay less village taxes this year. As the annual budget public hearing was set for Wednesday, April 4, Treasurer Scott Rightmyer announced the tax rate would drop one dollar per thousand - from $113.78 per thousand in the 2000-2001 budget to $112.78 per thousand in the 2001-2002 budget.

That means that the average homeowner with an assessment of $7,000 will pay $7 less in village taxes this year. What may be confusing for some property owners is the new assessments they received this month from the Town of Sweden. Those new assessments will not be used to calculate village taxes this year. The new assessments will first be used by the Brockport Central School district in September, then by the Town of Sweden in January 2002. The Village of Brockport will not use the new assessments until the 2002-2003 budget is prepared next spring.

Spending will increase under the proposed village budget plan from $3,868,631 in the current year to $4,211,742. The $343,000 increase will be offset by using $757,327 from the fund balance. The amount to be raised by tax levy will drop from $1.3 million last year to $1.27 million this year.

Mayor Mary Ann Thorpe said the village board has worked hard to keep a tight rein on taxes over the past eight years. The proposed one dollar per thousand tax rate drop follows five years of a flat tax rate which in turn followed two years of tax rate decrease, she said.

Vice Mayor James Whipple, while acknowledging the tax rate decrease was small, said the board wanted to send a positive message to a community that has become beleaguered during the past months with serious pollution problems and an investigation into the village police department.

The budget public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. on April 4 at the Village Hall, 49 State Street. Copies of the budget will be available by March 30, Rightmyer said.