Tupper Lake Town Supervisor Rickey Dattola gives a preliminary budget presentation to other board members at the town hall on Thursday, Oct. 23. The town will hold a public hearing on the budget there Monday at 4 p.m. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Town Board is slated to hold two public hearings beginning at 4 p.m. Monday at town hall, both concerning the proposed 2026 town budget.

The first hearing is for public comment on the budget itself, and the second is for public comment on a local law that would need to be passed in order to override the 2% tax increase cap for the budget, which is set by the state. The current proposed budget is set to increase tax rates by 3.85%, according to town Accountant Samantha Davies.

Under the proposal, those residing in the town of Tupper Lake, but outside the village of Tupper Lake, would pay $4.73 per $1,000 of assessed property value in taxes — meaning someone with a property assessed at $300,000 would pay $1,419 in town general taxes, an increase of $49.35 from last year. Those living inside the village lines would pay $3.43 per $1,000 of assessed property — meaning someone with a property assessed at $300,000 would pay $1,029 in town general taxes, an increase of $63.56 from last year.

These do not account for water and sewer fees, which are paid at unique rates on top of these taxes by people living in specific water and sewer districts. That money goes back into maintaining and upgrading infrastructure for those districts, including debt incurred for previous projects there. This also does not include county taxes, or village taxes, the latter of which is only paid by property owners within village limits.

Town Supervisor Rickey Dattola said there’s not much the town could have done to stay below the cap this year, with rising health care costs for its employees alone nearly putting the town over the cap. There are also repair costs for the Setting Pole Dam, though much of this is expected to be covered by various grants.

The total preliminary town budget, excluding water and sewer districts, would raise about $2.28 million in taxes. Total spending is projected at about $3.56 million, offset by about $894,630 in anticipated revenues, $264,180 in unexpended balance and about $120,388 in appropriated reserves.

Following the pair of hearings, the town board is set to hold a special meeting, where it will consider approving a resolution that would create a part-time exempt town court clerk position.