- By Dan Veaner
- News
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How a municipal budget really affects taxpayer wallets is a balancing act between property assessments, the tax levy and the tax rate. If assessments are high, government officials have a larger pool to draw from, so they can appear to take less out of it with a lower tax rate. But the amount of money they budget is the same, whether the assessments are high or the tax rate. Typically if one is up, the other is down, but homeowners pay more taxes anyway. Even if the levy stays constant, people pay more if their assessments go up.
This year the rise in assessments is significantly down from last year, when the increase was around 7%. According to Bowman, the Town's assessments, not including the Village, went up by 1.6%, and the Village went down to just under a percent, making the combined town assessment less than one percent higher than last year. Village residents do pay Town taxes, vote for Town officials, and receive some services from the Town, such as the court and judges.
Total appropriations in the Town budget are up by a little over 1%. The total tax levee, which is the part of the budget taxpayers must contribute to, is up by 0.62%. The tax rate is about $0.06 per $1000 of property valuation, or 3.76%. The result is that even with a much lower increase in assessments the Town is presenting a budget that also has a low rise in the tax rate. By comparison the Lansing School budget that recently passed represented a 6.79% increase, with a tax rate rise eleven times higher than that proposed by the Town.
As the Town grows, its needs grow as well. For example, a Town Planner position has been approved by the Town Board, and is included in the 2007 budget. But this is the exception, not the rule. "I've been here 20 years, and we haven't added staff," says Bowman, "other than the addition of another full time person in the Rec Department office and an electrical inspector who makes enough in fees to pay his own salary. Yet we all know how significantly the Town has grown." And Bowman says bringing that job in-house will ultimately save the Town money. "We'll have someone who knows how to write grants, and has a background that will be helpful for planning and code enforcement needs."
But there are several factors that allow the Town to keep taxes low. In fact, less than half the budget is paid for in taxes, which means the tax levy is only $2,377,748 of the $5,845,599 projected for 2007. Like most municipalities, the Town receives grants for some new and ongoing initiatives. Some departments such as the Code Enforcement Office pay for themselves with fees and fines they collect. The Highway Department earns income through various means, including the annual auction they host and contracts for plowing and road work with the County and the Village of Lansing.
Sales tax money also contributes to the Code Enforcement Office and Highway Department. The Highway Department is the biggest component of the Town budget. "I think this is tangible," Bowman says. "You can see that our roads are some of the most well maintained, best improved, probably in all of the County." Next year the budget assigns nearly $501,000 for road improvements, which is what it costs to improve about 9.2 miles of roads. Over a seven to ten year cycle the Town maintains and improves its 131 roads, spanning 92.74 miles.
New equipment and road improvements are largely paid for by sales tax. And the good news is that sales taxes have already exceeded the amount anticipated in this year's budget. Bowman says the extra cash will be put in a contingency fund that can be used to purchase equipment in the future.
One of the big increases the School District is dealing with is the increase in the cost of health benefits for its employees. This is also true for the Town, but relief comes from an unlikely source. The Highway Department staff may be joining the Teamsters Union, which has an excellent benefits package. "With that comes what we believe will be a significant savings in health insurance costs for our highway employees."
The Town is finally coming to grips with its technology needs, budgeting $20,000 for hardware and software upgrades and maintenance critical to keeping the Town running smoothly. "We learned a lot this year about technology," Bowman says. "We struggled until this year with computer support. We're making our way to completing goals that were set a couple of years ago, with a server and better security on our workstations."
The Town also contributes to a variety of community organizations such as LOAP, the Gadabout program, Foodnet, and the newly restructured Lansing Community Council, which in turn helps fund some Town programs such as the Recreation Department and Drop-In Center. The Town also contributes to support some of the operation and maintenance costs at the Lansing Community Library Center. The Town still owns the building, which was the former Town Hall. "It's an investment the Town makes in its own property," Bowman says.
"This is based on what we have today," cautioned Bowman. "Things could change after we go to a public hearing on the 8th of November to review, and hopefully adopt the 2007 budget. In all the years I've been here we've tried to budget conservatively so we don't get into a financial pickle." The public will have a chance to weigh in on the budget at a public hearing Wednesday, November 8th at 6pm in the Town Hall. The Board will probably approve it after the hearing in that same meeting. Bowman is pleased with how the Town has kept the numbers down. "I felt like we had a pretty good budget," she says. "But I didn't really know until I sat down and ran the numbers. I'm still in disbelief!"
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