Brockport village officials approve budget plan

Village of Brockport officials approved a budget for fiscal year 2004-2005 that carries with it a 7.65 percent tax hike, and with it a tax rate of $8.72 per $1,000 of assessed value.

At a specoal meeting held April 26, the budget was passed by a vote of four to one with Trustee Mort Wexler casting the lone dissenting vote on the $4,680,000 budget. "We had two proposals and I had problems and concerns with both of them," Wexler said. "I see a 7.65 percent tax increase but where's the (police department) overtime figured into this? I hope everyone on the force stays healthy."

The police department budget had taken a battering during the village's budget talks because of the exorbitant overtime costs it has incurred, in part because of full time officiers who have been off on sick leave. Police Chief Dan Varrenti has said in the past that the department has averaged $159,106 in overtime over the past three years. He has maintained that if he were allowed to fill positions with full time officers the costs would go down. He has also said that the cost of hiring, training and outfitting a part-time officer costs $18,000 and the longevity of these officers is not guaranteed because many of these officers work one to two days a month and usually seek full time employment elsewhere.

Varrenti's requests for officers have been repeatedly denied.

The police chief has presented several scenarios which would help reduce overtime, Trustee Peter DeToy said, but they haven't been taken into consideration. "We've painted ourselves into a corner."

Varrenti said it was unfortunate that his department continues to be the center of focus with the budget problems. "We will play the cards we're dealt," he said. "It won't be business as usual in the department. We will do whatever it takes to make it work but the public won't see as many officers on the street at the festivals and sidewalk sales."

Mayor Josephine Matela said the board came together and worked to come up with a budget that would offer the community the services that it has become accustomed to at a price they could afford. "We've done the best we can to take everything into consideration," she said. "I think we can live with a 7.65 percent increase. It will be tough but doable."

Trustee James Whipple addressed the overtime concerns by saying that if the police department were to work at the level of the contract with two officers per shift there would be adequate money in the budget. "We need to track on a weekly basis the amount of overtime expended," he said. "I think we will find we have a surplus."

Whipple said he would like to see a lower tax rate. "The budget isn't perfect but I have to support it," he said.

While the budget offers a sizeable tax increase, Trustee Norman Knapp said he also supports it. "This budget is a reduction over the original proposal," he said. "Am I happy with it? No. Will we have to live with it? Yes."

Even though the budget offered residents a decrease, taxpayers Linda Borrayo and Bill Webber said it wasn't enough.

Borrayo said she had offered the trustees suggestions on ways to decrease the budget including the elimination of the economic development position, which would have saved the village $30,000 a year. "Even with the decrease, it's not a good budget," she said.

Webber said the officials failed to address, or add into the 7.65 percent increase, the sewer rent. "If they added that in, the increase will be 20 percent," he said. "They don't want to be forthright about the true figures. The bottom line is the sewer rent is a tax increase.".

The board will hold its regular board meeting on May 3 at 7 p.m. at which time they will hold a public hearing on the proposed sewer rent. Webber said the public hearing will be too little too late. " A public hearing is to gather comments from the public, by the time this hearing is held, the budget will already be in place so the public's comments won't matter."