TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Town Council Thursday unanimously agreed to override the state-imposed 2.6% cap on the increase in the tax levy the town can make in its budget and is set to vote on the $2.6 million spending plan for the 2024 fiscal year sometime in the coming weeks.

Town Supervisor Rick Dattola said it was a “tough budget” this year. The proposed budget includes a 8.2% increase in spending and surpasses the tax cap by a significant amount — 4.93% higher than the cap.

“It increased quite a bit,” Dattola said. “But I think we feel that everything we did is justified and needed.”

The budget provides funding for more road and infrastructure maintenance, including “major” work on 10 town roads; “way overdue” IT upgrades; a new part-time, “as-needed” maintenance employee and pay increases for some employees.

The town also hired a new assistant to the parks and recreation director to help run things like the children’s day camp and little league.

“I know that’s a big expense, but the way we look at it … it’s something that’s a quality of life thing,” Dattola said.

He said the town is trying to attract new, young residents and staffing the youth and recreation department better might be a way to bring in families. The town also took over the Chamber of Commerce’s events after the chamber dissolved last year, and now it is trying to continue events, create new ones and promote them.

The cost of doing business has also gone up, Dattola said. New expenses in the highway department alone account for a tax levy increase of 1.4%, he said.

“The employees got a 3% (pay) increase coming this year,” he said. “Health insurance costs are up. Insurance is up. Retirement costs, our share to the state, is up. And fuel costs.”

The budget has double the number of roads scheduled for work next year than usual.

“We need to fix some roads,” Dattola said. “I mean, there are some people who have been waiting for years to get their roads fixed.”

A list of roads to be repaired in 2024 from the town includes Larkin Avenue, Lalonde Avenue, Glenwood Avenue, the Broad Street Extension, Ethans Way, Hosley Avenue, Bradley Street, Pitchfork Pond Road, Floodwood Road and the Old Piercefield Road.

Councilman John Quinn said right now the town only has enough money through the state DOT’s Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program to pave a mile of road a year. The town has 30 miles of roads inside its boundaries.

“I understand, wholeheartedly, how taxes are hard on people,” Dattola said.

He acknowledged that all taxes are going up and the town is just one of several taxing entities Tupper Lakers pay to, including the village and school district. He said the town council tried to keep the increase low and added that he hopes that after the tax hike this year, the town will be able to “stabilize” taxes at that higher rate instead of increasing them more and more in the future. The town will piecemeal projects over years to get things back in shape, he said.

Councilwoman Mary Fontana is preparing to resign from the town council after the budget passes to take the role of village mayor. She is running uncontested for that position on the Nov. 7 election ballot. Dattola said they’ve been talking about how they can work together between both local governments to save taxes

There was no public comment on the budget itself. Tupper Lake Free Press Publisher Dan McClelland spoke on the tax cap override.

“I typically don’t speak in favor of tax increases because they hurt me,” he said. “But this is a very forward-thinking budget.”

The town council plans to hold a special meeting to adopt the budget in the coming weeks. This meeting is expected to be announced next week.

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What’s in the budget?

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The total budget comes to $2,586,683, according to town Budget Officer Samantha Davies. But excluding the water and sewer district spending — $134,034 for water and $306,367 for sewer — Davies said the general budget spending would be $2,146,282, a 7.5% increase.

The water and sewer fees are not paid for by all taxpayers. They are only paid for by people in these specific water and sewer districts. And the money they pay goes back into maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure in these individual districts.

Davies said the tax cap this year was set by the state at 2.6% — an allowable $62,964 increase in money collected from taxpayers compared to last year. The proposed budget would surpass that cap. It calls for $161,856 more to be levied compared to last year, a 7.53% increase which puts the levy $135,425 over the state tax cap.

Davies said the tax levy for 2023 fiscal year was $2,397,336. The tentative 2024 budget proposes increasing that tax levy to $2,595,725, an 8.2% increase of $198,388.

The tax cap only allows a tax levy increase of $62,964 — a total of $2,460,300. But the town has agreed to override the tax cap this year to allow it to levy more from taxpayers.

A property owner with a home assessed at $200,000 in the town, outside of the village boundaries, would pay around $899 next year in town taxes, a $48.60, or 5.4%, increase from this year.

Someone who owns a $200,000 house in the village would pay $617.30 next year in town taxes, a $19, or 3.18%, increase from this year.

These estimates do not include water or sewer taxes.

The budget calls for the town to pull a total of $503,298 from its reserves for this budget — $220,000 from the general fund, $70,000 from the town-only highway reserves and $213,289 from the townwide highway reserves for a new snowplow.

Davies said the town currently has $1,074,790 in its general fund balance and $454,305 in its highway fund balance.