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The Lansing Town Board passed its 2017 $4,980,899 town budget and $1,422,579 special district budgets Wednesday in a special meeting and public hearings.  While the budgets exceed the New York State imposed tax levy cap, Supervisor Ed LaVigne said the tax rate will actually go down slightly.  That is good news for Lansing property taxpayers, who evidently had no problems with the new budget if attendance at the public hearings was any gauge: not one person spoke.  LaVigne said the only public input leading up to the hearings has been positive.

"Just thank yous," he said. "Thank yous for no drama, thank yous for being professional about it, thank yous for having the tax rate go down slightly.  Thank yous for clarifying what the budgets are about, where the distribution of money come from."

The levy exceeds the tax cap primarily because the Town had stopped charging drainage district residents.  Adding that charge back onto the special districts billing raised the levy that must be counted when performing the tax cap calculations increased the levy about $11,000 above the cap.  A $215,000 injection of unexpended fund balance dollars kept the levy from going further above the cap.

"They weren't charged for drainage districts for the last few years," Lansing Bookkeeper/Personnel Officer Charmagne Rumgay explained.  "They had been charged in the past, but they stopped being charged.  I don't think (Town Engineer) Dave Herrick realized they weren't being charged.  He asked me to start doing that again."

LaVigne said that as storm water management becomes more important in New York it is important to make sure it is funded.  He also said that a component of the budget considerations has been planning, noting that a five year capital plan for the town parks is being implemented.

"You try to get in front of these things to try to address them responsibly and in a methodical fiscal way," LaVigne said. "This is all unexciting until you need the money and don't have it."

The Board passed both the Town and special district budgets 5-0.

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