Clarkson holds the line on tax rate for 2003

Taxpayers in the Town of Clarkson will see no increase in their tax bills, Supervisor Paul Kimball said.

Even with increases in funding for the Rec Center and salary increases, taxpayers will see their tax rates remain steady, he said. The 2003 rate will stay the same as the 2002 rate: $7.82 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. "The tax rate stays the same and as a matter of fact it will be a little lower than it was in 1990," Kimball said. He credited frugal spending by department heads as part of the reason for the flat tax rate.

Spending is up in the recreation department from $32,897 last year to $55,611 this year. Kimball said the increase is because of the town's partnership with the Town of Sweden Recreation Center. "We expected this increase when we began working on the budget," he said. "It's what we agreed on."

The total town budget will be $2,110,960, a nine percent increase over the 2002 total budget of $1,941,320. The increase includes the pay increase for 15 elected and appointed officials. The supervisor's salary would increase by $489 to $16,804, board members salaries increase to $5,804, a $169 increase over the previous year.

Kimball said part of the reason for the flat tax rate is the anticipated increases in revenues. The town counts on revenues for the county when they figure their budget but Kimball said there is a $125,00 buffer in the highway department in the event county revenues don't materialize. "We have the buffer … and if we don't need to use it, the money will go toward equipment purchases," he said. "If we need to dip into the buffer we will have to look at other ways to make equipment purchases."

He said the decision would either involve deferring purchases or borrowing for them. "The only debt the town has, in a general sense, is the one for the library," he explained.

"The budget process has gone well," he said. "The only unknown at this point is that we haven't been presented with the fire and ambulance budgets (from the Village of Brockport)."

The public hearing for the budget will be at the Clarkson Town Hall at 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 12.