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Tentative budget for Saranac Lake at tax cap

Public hearing to be held Monday

SARANAC LAKE — After two budget work sessions, the village has crafted a tentative budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year, raising the tax levy by 2% to $3,819,736 — right on the tax cap.

The village will host a public hearing on the budget at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 22 in the village offices at the Harrietstown Town Hall, 39 Main St.

Included in the purposed budget is an increase of 14.54% to the sewer fund, mainly due to a large decrease in revenue from the reduction in inmates at Adirondack Correctional Facility, now known as the Adirondack Adolescent Offender Facility. The village receives revenue from the state based on the number of inmates at the prison for their water use. Last year, the prison transitioned to housing youth offenders. That transition resulted in a population drop of around 300 adult prisoners to a population of around 20 youth.

For taxpayers, this would mean an annual increase of $32.97 for the minimum metered rate for water and sewer inside the village. This increase is also because of debt coming due on state-mandated upgrades to the village’s wastewater system.

Harrietstown, North Elba and St. Armand would see a 0.35% tax rate increase, resulting in a tax rate of $12.26 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to the budget.

Per $1,000 of assessed value, that’s around 4 cents more than last year.

This draft of the budget proposes $5,535,633 in spending in the general fund, up from the $5,335,278 in last year’s adopted budget.

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