TUPPER LAKE — The village board passed a $3.4 million budget Thursday night, several days after its first attempt to pass the budget failed.

The budget passed five days after the state’s deadline, but according to the state Comptroller’s Office, there are no repercussions for missing the budget deadline by a few days.

Board members had a few reasons for not putting the budget up for a vote last month. On Thursday, they resolved those reasons or put them aside to pass the budget.

Trustee Ron LaScala said at the time that he wasn’t making a motion on the budget because he wanted to talk more about the town contributing more to the village for police services. Trustees Leon Leblanc and Jason McClain had said they wanted the full board with Trustee David “Haji” Maroun to take a vote. Maroun was at the meeting on Thursday.

LaScala entered the Thursday meeting planning on voting against the budget because he wanted to talk about the police contract, but eventually, he decided to move on and even made the motion to bring the budget up for a vote.

“I motion to pass the budget even though I don’t like it,” LaScala said.

The vote to approve the budget was unanimous.

At Thursday’s meeting, Mayor Paul Maroun said he can set up a meeting with the town and tell them the village can’t keep paying for all the emergency services. But first, he said, the village needed to pass its budget.

LaScala said the town contributing more to the police contract would “soften the blow” of the village raising taxes. He said he’s pushed for this for a while and felt the rest of the village board hadn’t worked to push, too.

McClain said the board was not just passing this budget because they don’t want to do the work. He said he doesn’t see anywhere else the village can cut spending and that rising prices are “just the cost of doing business.”

He said he regrets that the public does not attend more budget hearings and isn’t more involved in the process before the budgets pass.

“The community doesn’t talk until after we make a decision and then they bash what we set it at,” McClain said.

He said everyone at the board cares about the taxpayers.

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The final budget

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Maroun said he was able to find a bit more money in the state Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program and add funding for some Tupper Lake Volunteer Fire Department gear back to the budget.

Because of the new money, spending rose slightly, but the tax levy also decreased slightly. This decreased the tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value by two cents.

The final tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value is $0.80, a 5.06% tax rate increase from last year.

The $3.4 million budget has a 4.87% spending increase, $157,801 more than last year.

This budget requires $2.24 million in taxes to be collected from residents, also known as a tax levy. This tax levy exceeds the state’s tax levy cap by $67,222, or 5.097%. The tax levy cap set by the state is at 1.02% this year for Tupper Lake. This is the second year in a row the village budget has gone over the cap.

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Police contract discussion

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On Thursday, LaScala said Tupper Lake is “one community” and he wants everyone to pay into the police fund. He’s pushing for equalized rates for police protection across town and village residents, based on homes’ assessed values.

He said with the big camps in the town and apartments in the village, “The wealthiest people are paying the least” toward the police budget.

LaScala said he feels village residents are “paying a lot of extra money to live inside an invisible line” as town residents get the same services for less cost.

Village taxes are going to become unaffordable for families, he said, and he believes that if the town doesn’t pay more into police services, the village can’t afford to keep it going forever.

The police department makes up most of the village’s budget.

He said the village cutting police positions to stay under the tax cap is creating an “endless cycle of burnout.”

Paul Maroun agreed — if the town can’t add a little more expense to its taxpayers, the village can’t continue giving it police services at a financial loss, especially when the department’s hours have been halved due to low staffing.

“It’s not fair to village taxpayers,” Paul Maroun said.

Last month, TLPD Chief Eric Proulx announced his department is cutting its nighttime patrol shift due to a lack of active officers and will only be able to have officers on duty from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The debate over the police contract came to a head at a village board meeting two weeks ago, when Interim town Supervisor Mary Fontana attended to discuss the Tupper Lake Field Day event the town is planning. LaScala used the visit to segue into the police contract issue, but Fontana said it was not the time or place without the rest of her board. The discussion got heated.

On Thursday, McClain said he agrees with LaScala that Tupper Lake is “one community” and that town and village residents should pay equalized rates on the police department, but he felt LaScala sometimes approaches the issue “inappropriately.”

He said LaScala is “pushy and strong.” He doesn’t always agree with his methods, but he believes LaScala’s arguments are right.

McClain said he’s been on the village board for two years and never had this discussion with the town. Before getting elected, he said he “always felt that the townspeople were living off the village.”

LaScala said he wasn’t sure how else to get the conversation started.

The village puts a lot of money into the services it provides the town, he said, and he said it hurts to be on the village board, struggling and fighting to keep taxes lower, even if they far exceed the tax cap, and see the town lower or maintain its tax rates.

He accused the town of “pilfering” village services.

McClain said the village had to pass this budget. There’s money in it for a new police officer hire. It doesn’t help the department’s current low staffing, but he said money can be saved for future years when hires are more plentiful.

LaScala wants the full boards of both the town and village to meet and talk about the contract.

Paul Maroun said the town won’t be able to consider a change until they do their budget later this year.

LaScala is resigned to believing nothing will ever change with the contract. He said he’s asked for more contributions for years and has never gotten it through. But other board members were more optimistic that the town could increase its contribution.