With the tax rate going down a dollar per thousand of assessed valuation, most Brockport residents didn’t bother to voice any concerns over the tentative 2001-2002 village budget at the April 4 budget hearing. Public comments centered around the cost of the police department, but even those were generally positive in nature.

The proposed budget calls for a spending increase of approximately $343,000. Last year’s general fund appropriations totaled $3,868,631, the proposal increases spending to $4,211,742. By using $757,327 from the fund balance, the amount to be raised by property taxes will actually decrease slightly. The proposed tax rate decrease of one dollar per thousand of assessed valuation will parlay into a six or seven dollar tax decrease for the average homeowner.

Treasurer Scott Rightmyer explained that the fund balance under the proposal will drop from $1,714,475 to $957,148. The village’s financial adviser recommends that Brockport keep a minimum of three months worth of operating expenses in its fund balance. The $957,148 will just meet that minimum, Rightmyer said.

General categories of expense are: village administration, $348,745; insurance, $66,028; contingency, $170,000; quality of life, $114,417; community support, $276,548; department of public works, $1,157,518; police, $1,201,069; dispatch, $262,740; fire and ambulance, $614,677.

The Village of Brockport has several sources of revenue, with 30 percent of budget appropriations financed by property taxes. Remaining revenue sources include: sales tax, 26 percent; fund balance, 18 percent; fire/ambulance protection contracts, 11 percent; utility taxes, three percent; state aid, three percent; and all other (fees, fines, etc.), nine percent.

Rightmyer attributed the $343,000 spending increase to several factors: $101,261 for wage and labor increases; $77,560 for employee benefits; $15,642 for workers compensation insurance; $4,000 for police equipment; $74,380 for fire service; $40,000 for legal fees; $10,000 for Main Street beautification; $10,000 for fire equipment; $3,500 for audit; and $8,577 for insurance. The village’s debt service will drop by $2,362 in fiscal year 2001-2002.

The proposed tax rate of $112.78 per thousand of assessed valuation is the lowest village tax rate since 1992-93. During that time period, the village’s tax base grew by about $500,000 from $10.7 million in 1992-93 to $11.2 million projected for 2001-2002.

"We’ve been able to maintain services while decreasing or keeping steady the tax rate for the past five years," Mayor Mary Ann Thorpe said.