TUPPER LAKE — The village board will have to try to pass its budget again Thursday after the $3.38 million proposed budget failed to be put up for a vote on Friday.

Board members had a few reasons for not putting the budget up for a vote last week.

Trustee Ron LaScala said 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.

“I want the full board here,” Trustee Leon Leblanc said.

Trustee David “Haji” Maroun was not at the meeting because he was working a double shift, Mayor Paul Maroun said.

Trustee Jason McClain also said he wanted to have the full board vote on the budget.

“It’s a pretty big budget to vote on,” he said, and the wants the full board to share public perception of the budget, which has gone over the tax levy cap.

LaScala said the majority of the village budget is for the police department, which is now only operating 12 hours a day instead of 24/7 because of a lack of active officers. He said he doesn’t want to raise village taxes and give residents less service.

Two-thirds of the community pays for the police department, he said, and he believes town residents outside the village are not paying their “fair share.”

He feels he has a moral, ethical and fiduciary obligation to push for an update to the town’s police contract with more money before voting on a village budget.

“We keep saying that we’re going to go back and discuss it,” LaScala said. “And we can never.

“I’m not the bad guy here. I’m the good guy here, because I’m looking out for the taxpayers,” he said, “We have built a building that we can’t afford to staff.”

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New budget may be final version

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Paul said he made an additional $18,600 in expense cuts from the Tupper Lake Volunteer Fire Department since last week and found $3,600 in more revenue.

The cuts include two sets of turnout gear for the fire department — a $6,600 reduction — a $9,000 air pack and $3,000 from the tool account.

The revenue was a $3,600 reimbursement for police training.

These changes reduced spending by $22,200 in the overall budget. The proposed budget now has a 4.31% spending increase, $139,800 more than last year.

This budget would require $2.24 million in taxes to be collected from residents, also known as a tax levy. This tax levy is less than it was before, but still over the state’s tax levy cap.

This levy exceeds the state’s tax levy cap by $67,909, or 5.1976%. The tax levy cap set by the state is at 1.02% this year for Tupper Lake.

The new tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value is $0.82, a 5.16% tax rate increase from last year

If this budget passes, it will be the second year in a row the village budget is over the tax cap.

Paul said he’s gone over the budget over and over.

“I don’t see where we can go any lower than this,” he said.

He said firefighters with the SLVFD will probably be concerned about funding for its gear getting cut, but he said if something goes wrong and they need it, that’s what the fund balance is for.

The deadline to pass village budgets was May 1, yesterday, but Paul is not too concerned about taking a vote after the deadline.

“What are they going to do? Put us in comptroller budget jail?” Paul asked. “The state doesn’t pass their budget sometimes for a month.”

The board will hold a special meeting Thursday at 5 p.m. with the goal of voting on the budget. The meeting will be held at the village office and streamed on Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5010434972.

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This story has been updated to reflect a new date for the village’s special meeting on the budget. The village rescheduled the meeting from Monday, May 2 to Thursday, May 5.