Tentative town budget: Tax levy increase is under 2% cap; translates to tax rate rise of 2.98%,
Monday, October 17, 2011
On Thursday, town Administrator Penelle Paderewski sent town board members a tentative budget for 2012 of $36.3 million. Of that, $14.7 is revenue the town brings in; residents supply $19,333,001 million in property taxes, a figure that comes in under the 2% tax cap by $145,010. The remaining $2 million is taken from the fund balance.
The budget is labeled “tentative,” but town board members have said that, judging from months of preliminary talks about it and recent previews of it, they expect to change it very little.
Although the increase in the tax levy—the amount of money raised by the town through property taxes—will come in under the cap, the tax rate increase will be 2.98%.
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The Tax Levy vs. The Tax Rate
Tax levy = amount of money raised from property taxes
Tax rate = the rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation used to calculate your taxes.
That tax rate went from 12.814177 in 2011 to 13.196039 in the tentative 2012 budget.
So, for example, to arrive at the average taxpayer’s taxes for 2012, take the average assessed home value of $172.9 thousands, and multiply by the tax rate of 13.196039. This will yield $2281.
$172.9 x 13.196039 = $2281, or a $49 increase over last year’s taxes.
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The town’s overall assessment was down $4,428,388 million ( 0.41%) this past year from $1,081,571,641 to $1,077,143,252.
It could have been worse
Last year’s tax levy was $18.848,757. With a couple of adjustments to that base that includes a portion of pension increases, the town could have raised the tax levy for 2012 to $19,478,011 and remained within the 2% cap, said Paderewski. If the town board had done so, the tax rate increase would have been 4.01%. Instead, the tentative budget keeps the tax levy increase within the 2% cap.
Under the tentative budget for 2012, the average taxpayer would pay:
$2,281.60 to the town of New Castle (10% of your tax bill)
$1,057.18 for Special Districts such as water and refuse (4% of your tax bill)
$3,213.67 to Westchester County (13% of your tax bill)
$17,417.79 to Chappaqua Central School District, for the current 2011-2012 year (73% of your tax bill)
Ideas from staff save money; but layoffs too
Measures suggested by employees saved $29,000: they will clean town hall and the DPW offices themselves, and cut out a coffee service contract. Even so, there were layoffs. By letting go one worker from the town clerk’s office, two rec department workers and two police department staff members, Paderewski said she saved about $425,000 in salaries. Earlier in the year two DPW employees accepted the town’s early retirement incentive.
Paderewski said that from her perspective she does notice a difference. “I must say that after the hurricane crews were stretched. We could tell it was taking longer to clean up.”
A public hearing on the budget is set for 7:45 p.m. on November 22, 2011, at town hall.
It is the taxpayers of New Castle and our families that have been stretched to the limits financially and in all possible ways to cope with ever-rising town budgets. The Town Administrator and Town Board can and must do better. There are still excesses in the Town Budget that must be aggressively identified and eliminated with full transparency and accountability to overstretched taxpayers. After more than a decade of runaway tax increases, and in light of the continued weakness in economic growth, jobs and family income, the Town must act responsibly and diligently in delivering to New Castle taxpayers a ZERO increase budget for 2012.
The hen that lays the golden eggs—the taxpayers whose hard work and sweat, despite continuing odds, support this town’s operations—must not continue to be taken for granted. Otherwise, the golden eggs will become fewer and fewer as taxpayers sell at distressed prices and move out of town, with the Town’s tax base further weakening and eroding in a cycle that will be difficult to break.
1) By using reserves of $2 million it appears that the Town Board is cleverly increasing the property tax levy by nearly 12% for 2012 budget. So much for the “2% tax cap” that should limit the total tax levy increase to $381,921. The Town is raising tax levy by $2.24 million.
2) New Castle should receive an “unqualified” opinion. There are only two kinds of opinions. “Qualified” means there are major problems in the audit, such as fraud. We should receive an “unqualified” opinion. This is an exact science. The Town should manage its books correctly and there should not be fraud.
3) The required property tax levy has increased from $8.6 million in 2008 to $10.7 million in 2011 to cover the cost of operating town hall. That is a 24% increase in an economic environment where inflation has increased 3%. Taxing residents at 8x inflation!!!
4) From 2008-2011, the employee benefits costs for the Town Hall employees has increased 32%, even after the “incentive” retirement program that eliminated 10 positions (you would be up over 50%). By the way, given that none of the positions were replaced, it clearly demonstrates that those positions should have been eliminated more than three years ago without an incentive.
5) Instead of reducing police force positions, why not eliminate overhead at the Town Hall first through layoffs or union re-negotiations? Anyone who walks through that building knows it is a bloated staff.
6) What did it cost to replace town vehicles with new hybrids and other high-mileage cars? I bet you it cost way more than maintaining the old cars.
7) Before reducing garbage services to the community (and braging about it), you should have eliminated bloating staffing at Town Hall (a legacy of the Faiella era) and that ridiculous gazebo project.
8) If revenues are falling, so should compensation expenses. The unit cost of each employee is simply too high, particularly when you have a combination of benefits and salaries increases that are rising double-digits annually.
9) The fund balance was too high, which is why the Town is able to use $2 million to support and mask a 12% property tax increase this year and usurp the 2% property tax cap.
10) The U.S. Government and AIG also had AAA ratings too. That did not seem to work out…
I agree with you ZERO Town Tax Increase- What do you think will happen when the CCSD Board of Ed tries to get a budget passed that excedes the 2% cap? They will try to pass a budget with 60% yes votes and then watch our taxes skyrocket. You can bet its on its way. There is already discussion about the possibility and feasability of trying to get this done. Probably explains why the CCSD and school superintendant budget advisory committee is holding 8 meetings and NONE are open to the public.
Here is Supt. Lyn McKay’s statement about not consolidating the two middle schools that is on the CCSD website.
It is interesting to note that the enrollment projection numbers are not disclosed. Why is that? If the trend is “similar” to prior years does that mean they are declining?
Another disturbing fact is that we need a “scheduling consultant.” Isn’t that a skill we should expect our admisinstrators to have in their skill set that qualifies them for the job?
Note
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Knowledge Cafe - Middle School Scheduling
As we get ready for the Knowledge Café community forum on middle school scheduling models, we wanted to update you on some relevant enrollment projections that inform the options we do and do not need to consider.
October 5, 2011 was the date set by New York State for school districts to establish their official enrollments. Based on the numbers reported, we were able to tabulate enrollment projections for the 2012-13 school year, which are similar to what we have seen in prior years.
Based on these latest enrollment projections, it is not time to consider any consolidation of our middle schools. Our enrollments and building capacities indicate that we will need all six schools to remain open in order to serve all of our students. At such time, if ever, enrollments drop to a level where we need to talk about closing a building, we would use a detailed and comprehensive process for seeking community input. (CONTD.)
In light of economic constraints, what we do need to explore, however, are even more efficient and effective ways of scheduling at the middle school level that will promote academic excellence and at the same time be fiscally responsible. This Knowledge Café is a forum in which we will explain to you the various models for scheduling and distributing students across two middle schools, which we have been working on since January, and getting your thoughts about each.
Please know that Michael Rettig, an internationally known school scheduling consultant, will be joining us at both sessions, along with John Chow, our Assistant Superintendent for Business and our two middle school principals, to share enrollment data and discuss alternative scheduling models.
We hope to see you there.
Site: Robert E. Bell Middle School Auditorium (50 Senter St.)
Start Time: 9:30 AM
End Time: 11:30 AM
First we are told that the CCSD Board of Ed has signed off on Vice Supt Chow’s “private” budget advisory committee meetings. There are to be 8 of them . We don’t know who is on the committee and the public will not be able to participate or attend. Now we find out that Supt McKay has stated that there will be no structural or significant changed to our 2 middle schools based on new enrollment numbers. But she was not specific about those enrollment numbers giving us absolutely no data. In fact the school district website does not have the enrollment numbers either. Why all the secrecy? Where is the transparency? In the recently held school board elections all candidates promised they would work closer with the community. So sad - they get voted in and forget all the promises they made!
In looking at the town budget, check out any capital projects. No more proposed spending on any more of the Chappaqua hamlet for the next year unless it is for health reasons. Every resident is tired of sitting in traffic tie ups as well as not being able to find a parking space so we can shop locally! Where are the 1 hour spaces? WE do need some for people doing short stops. Not every one needs two hour parking.
Wrong target! If the tax RATE is what we pay, why should anyone seek congratulations for meeting an arbitrary tax LEVY target?
Taxpayers deserve not only more consideration but also more information. How’s about disseminating—BEFORE THE ELECTION—the record of TAX RATE INCREASES for, say, the last 10 years? One should not have to collect records or come to Town Hall to see the data. The same Internet that is used for a variety of purposes can also be employed to inform us—and to keep us informed.
Why are the school budget meetings private? We as residents should be allowed to attend. After all, out of every tax dollar collected, the school gets 75 cents, the county gets 15 and the Town gets 10. Seems to me the school system is the reason why it is so expensive to live in this Town.
