Spencerport village taxpayers may see increase

Spencerport village taxpayers may see increase

Village of Spencerport Mayor Ted Walker said the tax rate increase that will be presented to the public at a meeting on April 5 was an anticipated one.

"We planned for the tax rate increase because we knew we were going to be funding our street improvement program," he said. "We had an information meeting in the fall with the public and identified the condition of the streets and told everyone what we needed to maintain them. We identified costs and levels of money we needed to raise."

Walker said the village had to increase spending on street improvement and maintenance by an additional $100,000, the tax rate increase will help raise that additional money. "We are looking at allocating the $325,000 (up from $225,000) annually for streets," he said. "If we don't spend the money we will put it into reserves."

He said that Prospect Street will require work and the village will review the street fund every year at budget time. The DPW will likely do most of the road work, he said.

"Even though the tax rates are going up, we are trying to keep it on a low level," he said. "If we spend a little more now, we can build a reserve so we can maintain the quality level of streets that we have. Chances are, though, we will have another increase next year."

Taxes will be going up by 60 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The present tax rate is $2.70 and will go up to $3.30 under the budget proposal. The increase means a home assessed at $100,000 will pay about $60 more annually.

"We kept everything else in the budget close to the bone to make up for this increase," he said. "The budget process gets easier every year but it's a fairly rigorous process. All department heads are involved in the budget meetings so they have an understanding of the process. We analyze everything that goes into all line items."

Among other anticipated expenses planned for in the budget:

The village is still following the vehicle replacement program it has in place and will be purchasing two one-ton trucks and a street sweeper.
Minor improvements are planned at the village office and restroom upgrades will be made.
Safety upgrades are anticipated at the department of public works.
The street light replacement program will continue as will sidewalk improvement.

"We've cut back a bit this year on sidewalk replacement. We're looking more at maintenance rather than replacement," he said.

Walker said the village is also being faced with a 12 percent increase in health insurance fees. Employees pay about three percent of the health insurance premiums. Included in the budget are slight pay increases for the mayor and trustees, the mayor's salary is going from $6,700 annually to $7,000; trustees will increase from $4,540 to $4,740.

"I think we have a good budget, even though there is the increase, we're maintaining the level of work and services the taxpayers expect but building reserves so things don't slide," he said.

Walker said the sewer fee will be increasing from $235 a unit to $270 per unit, in line with last year's increase. "The reason for the increase is for the new capital project associated with our going off line and we are putting money aside to help pay for the costs of that change over to Pure Waters," he said. "The other reason for the increase is simply a continuing operation expense. If the system has leaks or needs upgrades, we have money available for that."

No increases were expected in the electric fund, Walker said. "We haven't had an increase in six or seven years," he said.

The village has been participating in the Energy Star program in which it offers rebates to residents that purchase energy saving appliances, they also offer an incandescent bulb replacement program for the residents and have recently started performing energy audits on homes.

The hearing on the budget will be April 5 at 7 p.m. at Fire Station 1 on Lyell Avenue.