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Lansing Town Board members voted Tuesday to reduce the Town tax rate by 15% for the 2012 budget.  While that's considerably smaller than the 44.15% reduction they considered in late September, it still represents a larger tax break than other local municipalities can offer.  But concerns about economic uncertainty and under-funded town departments led Supervisor candidates Kathy Miller and Connie Wilcox to advocate for a 15% tax rate drop, and some board members seemed to be regretting cuts, especially to the Highway Department, over the past three years.

"Our taxpayers are not complaining about their town taxes," Wilcox said.  "They're complaining about their county taxes and their school taxes, but they are not complaining about their town taxes.  And for what they get for their town taxes, they're very happy."

In September Councilman Robert Cree calculated that the Town could afford to made a 44.15% reduction in the tax rate, while still covering its budget and continuing to put money into the fund balance.  In the following weeks board members said they would be more comfortable with 33%.  Cree, Supervisor Scott Pinney, and and Councilman Marty Christopher were happy with that figure, but Miller and Wilcox, the two candidates for Town Supervisor, both wanted a lower number.  Last week Wilcox said she could support a 28% tax rate cut and Miller wanted 15%.

After another week's reflection both Miller and Wilcox were at 15% and Christopher at 20%.  Town Bookkeeper Sharon Butler Bowman advocated a 12% reduction.  Wilcox and Miller both said that people they have spoken to while campaigning have told them that a large reduction would be irresponsible.  Christopher said that Town Economic Development Committe Chairman Andy Sciarabba told him the proposed cut is too much.

Town officials say that even before the reduction Lansing has the second lowest tax rate of any of the Tompkins County towns.  Miller said that if the board wants to consider reducing the fund balance it needs to project budgets over a five year period.  Cree said that his figures were based on board consensus that the fund balance should be maintained at $1 million, and reductions from an estimated $2.3 million at the end of this year were based first on a 2% rise in costs over the next three years, and then recalculated to consider a possible 3% rise in costs.  He said that reducing the tax rate drop by so much is a fundamental change in board policy.

"We need to revisit where we all feel comfortable with the fund balance, because this was all based on the premise of where we all agreed we wanted the fund balance to get to not in one year, but over time," he said.  "Now most of the arguments that I'm hearing are that we should maintain a larger fund balance.  So we probably need to go back to the beginning and decide what we are comfortable with."

Christopher noted that it is too late in this budget cycle to take an entirely different approach. He said he would rather approve a smaller reduction for this year, then revisit it next year after consulting department heads on their needs projections over a five year period before deciding on how much to cut again next year. 

Cree said that his figures were based on a three year plan.  Originally he calculated a 2% rise in budget needs, and later recalculated using 3%.  Town Bookkeeper Sharon Butler Bowman said that she preferred a more conservative approach, noting that Caroline Supervisor Don Barber recommended 4% when he visited the Lansing board on October 24th.

"I think that the exercise that we've been through has been worthwhile," Bowman said.  "But maybe there is a broader way to look at things and involve the very people who are affected by these decisions."

The board voted 3-1 for a 15% tax rate reduction with Cree dissenting.  Pinney was not able to be present Tuesday.

They also voted to authorize expenditures up to $106,000 from a Highway Department capital reserve fund after an impassioned pela by Deputy highway Superintendent Charlie 'Cricket' Purcell.  The money will be used to purchase a loader, and possibly a pickup truck.  Those pieces of equipment were the only items not approved from this year's departmental budget requests.  Cree noted that purchasing them from the capital fund does not impact the tax levy, while budgeting for their purchase would have.

Purcell's arguments seemed to carry a lot of weight with board members and Town Bookkeeper Sharon Butler Bowman.  Bowman said that department heads were not consulted this year on their projections over the next two or three years.  She said that in past years department representatives cave come back two or three times with additional information before the Board settled on a budget. 

"This is the first year that we have done budget that we just had the departments in once and never brought them back," Wilcox agreed.

Purcell told the board that cuts in his department's budget, including a $324,000 in 2008, have reduced the department's ability to maintain Lansing's roads from a ten year cycle to almost 33 years between the times a road gets a hot mix blacktop treatment.  He said that the oil and gravel treatment some roads are getting don't maintain the structure and integrity of a road.

"Envision some of your roads that you drive on around town that are pretty nice," he said.  "What do you think it's going to look like in 33 years before we get back to it?  If you were sitting here having this conversation in 2005 (with projections like the ones being considered today), how would that have worked out in 2008?  You can use any projections you want, but we can't predict how money is going to be spent."

Miller in particular argued that the Highway Department should be better funded, especially in light of the town's efforts to attract new business to make up for losses stemming from the increasingly lower income from the AES Cayuga power plant and the still uncertain economy. 

"I think it's a place where we can't be cheap," Miller said.  "We can't be.  We're trying to help the schools, and whatever development we bring in, whatever we do, the Highway Department is going to be a big part of that."

The board also added $100,000 for a legal services reserve, and adjusted some other line items in preparation for a final budget document.

A public budget hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday (November 9th) at 6pm.

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