The Batavia Town Board has unveiled its tentative budget for 2018, a $5.02 million spending plan that, for the second straight year, calls for $1 million to be generated through property taxes.
The tax rate, however, may go down slightly, said Supervisor Gregory Post, during a special board meeting on Wednesday afternoon at the Town Hall on West Main Street Road.
“By keeping the tax rate the same (it was $2.64 per thousand of assessed valuation in 2017), we figure we will generate a $7,000 increase over the $1 million (in tax revenue) we had last year,” Post said.
In turn, that $7,000 could be used to reduce the tax rate by another two cents, dropping it to $2.62 – which equates to a yearly tax bill of $235.80 on a house assessed at $90,000.
The budget also calls for using nearly $470,000 from the Town’s unexpended fund balance.
Post said the board will have a much better idea of the Town’s financial outlook for the fiscal year 2018 (January through December) in a couple weeks as it receives updated information about sales tax and other revenue streams.
“We just heard last week that Genesee County and the City of Batavia extended for one year its sales tax agreement (which determines how much money is distributed to the county’s municipalities), and that the county again has been authorized to collect an additional 1 percent, so we have proposed the same amount of sales tax for 2018 that we budgeted for last year,” he said.
Post said he is hoping for increases in water and sewer revenues as a result of HP Hood taking over the former Muller Quaker plant on East Main Street Road, adding that nothing is certain, however, as “water rates are volatile.”
The supervisor said sales tax for the first two quarters was close to what was estimated. In all, the budget lists sales tax revenue of $1.85 million.
While uncertainty remains in some areas, Post said the board is taking steps to turning the employee health insurance benefits line item into a “fixed” cost.
“We’re capping health insurance at 95 percent (of the premium for single, two-person and family plans),” Post said. “Any future premium increases will be the responsibility of the employee.”
Still, the Town’s 30 employees eligible for health insurance benefits will receive up to $16,910 to cover their plan, and will be able to purchase a plan “that suits their needs,” Post said.
In contracting with Tompkins Insurance Agencies, the Town is offering the following:
-- Single plan: $6,080;
-- Two-person plan, $11,400;
-- Family plan, $16,910.
Employees have that much to spend on their health insurance plans, but also have the option of taking a buyout – valued at 60 percent of their plan allowance – as long as they can prove they have obtained health insurance through another source (spouse, significant other, etc.).
“If five people opt to take ‘in lieu of’ we could save around $40,000,” Post said. “The budgeted amount could go down … or worse case, we’re not spending any more on health insurance and we haven’t reduced the benefit to the staff.”
Actually, the benefit is being enhanced as the “buyout” is increasing from a long-standing $2,700 stipend to the 60 percent of the plan allowance.
As was the case last year, the board is proposing 3 percent raises across the board, but that, too, is tentative “because raises will be given or not given on a person-by-person basis,” Post said.
Post said the board is proposing to contract with outside engineers as consultants rather than hiring another Town engineer.
Board members commented that they would like to increase the salary of its Town justices, who have put in additional hours covering when other municipalities’ judges were unavailable.
The summary of the budget is as follows:
General Fund
Appropriations -- $3.89 million; Estimated revenue -- $2.42 million; Unexpended fund balance -- $469,000; Amount to be raised by tax -- $1 million.
Highway Fund
Appropriations -- $1.12 million; Estimated revenue -- $1.12 million.
Including the Town’s special sewer, water and Batavia fire districts, the total budget is $9 million --$6 million in revenue, $606,000 in unexpended fund balance and $2.33 million to be raised by tax.
The board will continue to work on the budget throughout the month in anticipation of a public hearing in November.
