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Village of Lansing officials are considering exceeding the state-imposed tax cap this year with an up to 12.68% rise in the village tax levy.  The proposed levy for next fiscal year's $3,113,552 budget is $513,086, up from $455,341 last year.  The actual budget, if passed will be 24.24% higher than last year's budget, largely because of road projects.  Mayor Donald Hartill said Monday the adjustment is necessary in order to adequately fund reserves, but says the actual dollar impact to taxpayers will be minimal.  For taxpayers that will mean about $1.20 per thousand dollars of assessed property value, instead of the 99 cents collected last year.

"In terms of how it affects me or any other resident, it's a 10% increase on their tax," Hartill said.  "So in my case it's about $30 more, to put it in perspective."

Earlier Monday the Village Trustees passed a law allowing them to override the state imposed so-called '2% tax cap'.  Most taxing authorities have passed similar laws each year to give themselves the flexibility to go above the state-allowed rise in their tax levies (the portion of the budget that is raised through property taxes).  The Village has easily stayed below the mandated cap for the past few years since the cap was imposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration.  But this year, with two major road projects on the docket, the Village will not only go above the cap, but do so by a significant percentage.

Hartill explained that one of the consequences of the tax cap is that it provides very little flexibility for municipalities to make adjustments each year.  Hartill has often lowered the tax rate, but when he did so in 2011 he expected to make an upward adjustment in the following year to manage reserves.  Municipal reserves are allowed by the state, especially when they are used as savings for specific projects.  Hartill's strategy has been to build reserves a little at a time so when the time comes to spend it, no new tax is required, and no loans are needed.  The Village has managed to handle very expensive projects such as the new Village Hall in 2013, the Triphammer Road reconstruction project nine years ago, and repaving Triphammer Road and replacing street lighting that is scheduled for this summer.

"If you look at that history you will find that the tax rate for the last four years has been below a dollar per thousand," Hartill said.  "In 2011 I noticed that our capital reserve funds were increasing more that I thought they should so I dropped the tax rate by 20 cents.  Big mistake!  Because the next year they imposed the tax cap."

Last year Hartill kept the village tax rate to 99 cents.  But Monday he said that if an adjustment is not made that reserves will be tapped out over the next decade.

"That's not a healthy way to do anything," he explained.  "If you go at least half way back to where you should be it extends that period of time.  This year I am proposing that we go half way back.  The $1.20 is about the right equilibrium level for revenue.  It actually nets us a little over $50,000.  It's not much.  The (entire) property tax levy is $513,000."

That is only about a sixth of the proposed $3.1 million budget.  This budget is about a million dollars higher than last year, largely because of the Triphammer Road repaving project and some major water main repairs and upgrades to Bush Lane.

"The bottom line is that total appropriations are $3,113,552, up from last year, which was $2,196,000," Hartill said.  "It all has to do with these capital road projects plus a little bit in salaries."

The 2016-17 budget is still under consideration by Village trustees.  Typically the budget is considered in two or three Trustee meetings before being approved before Trustee elections in April.

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