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North Elba 2017 budget meets tax cap

LAKE PLACID — The town of North Elba passed its budget Tuesday night, meeting the state-mandated tax cap.

The tax levy for 2017 is set at $4,248,704, a 0.85 percent increase ($36,230) over the 2016 tax levy. The town raised its tax levy by 1.3 percent last year and 2.3 percent the year prior.

The estimated tax rate per $1,000 of assessed property value is $1.34 for town residents, an increase of about 2 cents from last year’s budget.

Taxpayers in Fire District 1 (in and around Lake Placid village and east) will pay $2.32, up 1 cent. Residents of Fire District 2 (Ray Brook) will pay $3.05, the same as last year. Residents of Fire District 3 (mostly waterfront parcels around Lake Placid lake) will pay $2.32, up 1 cent. Those tax rates include the town general fund tax, highway, parks district and the fire district tax.

The town council unanimously passed the budget at about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday after a public hearing an hour earlier. Supervisor Roby Politi left public comment on the budget open until the board approved it. No one from the public was present to comment. Politi said the town council worked at weekly meetings from the beginning of October to the end of that month to finalize the proposed budget.

“Very little change in the budget for 2017, and the tax cap was met,” Politi said.

“The secret when you do these budgets really is to come in at the tax cap,” he later added, “not to come in under the tax cap, because if you come in under the tax cap, it counts against you for next year. … If we come in at 0.5 (percent increase in tax levy), then the next year we start at 0.5; then we’d be at 0.3. Then we’d never be able to do any work on any roads or anything. As it is right now, we are penalized for upgrades in infrastructure.”

Politi said the town-wide taxable assessed property value for 2017 increased 0.51 percent, or $10,723,576. He added that budgeted revenues from the general fund decreased by $68,000 but were offset by a decrease in expenditures from the general fund of $84,000.

He said transfer station revenues decreased $3,400, fines and forefeited bail increased $7,000, and gas and diesel sales revenue decreased $110,000.

“The decreases were a result of not needing plowing and the decrease in cost in gasoline,” Politi said.

The general fund expenditures included an increase of $112,000 in gas and diesel purchases and $40,000 for the addition of a second code enforcement position.

The town also lists a planned debt service issuance of $25,000 for a Bobcat skid street loader, less trade for a 2006 skid street loader, and an issuance of $150,000 for a Komatsu loader, less trade for a 2004 model.

The town appropriated $26,000 of the general fund balance to offset the tax levy increase.

The town’s budgeted revenues for its highway fund increased $7,500 while expenditures increased $19,000.

The budgeted revenues for the Park District increased $21,400 while expenditures increased $28,500. These expenditures include the planned installation of dry wells at the town’s athletic fields, estimated at $6,000, and a water cannon at the fields, estimated at $8,500.

A grounds repair and maintenance expense increase of $50,000 was offset by a grant received through state Sen. Betty Little, Politi said.

The town council also unanimously approved the 2017 fire district 1 and 3 contracts with the village of Lake Placid, and the town’s benefit water and sewer budget at Tuesday’s meeting after holding public hearings on each matter before the regularly scheduled meeting.

“There were no increases in the water district charges, and the sewer district charges went down 5 cents,” Politi said.

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