The draft 2009 county budget calls for $240 million in spending, a 3.6 percent increase, and holding the current average county property tax rate steady at $2.15 per $1,000 assessed value.
The county hasn’t been hurt as much by the economic downtown as some other communities, thanks to tourism and continued residential growth, officials said in releasing the proposed budget Tuesday.
“The philosophy was to think conservatively and the goal, and we achieved it, was to maintain the tax rate,” said county Law and Finance Committee Chairman Arthur Johnson, R-Wilton, who is in charge of budget review.
The actual amount to be raised by taxes will rise 6 percent, but officials said a growing tax base will keep the average tax rate steady.
Other counties are also seeking their tax levies increase; Schenectady County is looking at a 9.2 final levy increase for next year, Albany County at 4 percent, and Montgomery County at a 3 percent increase.
The Saratoga County spending plan, up 3.6 percent from a $232 million county budget this year, includes several new initiatives. Unlike in some other counties, officials said there are no personnel or program cuts proposed.
The initiatives include $600,000 to buy the county’s volunteer firefighters electronic pagers compatible with the new county emergency radio system. It also includes plans for creating new recreation trails on county forest lands in Wilton and Northumberland.
The county can spend the money without raising most tax bills, officials said, because of its continued residential and commercial growth. It has been among the fastest growing counties in the state for 40 years, and has added $1.3 billion to the tax base in the last year.
“Because of the fantastic growth in Saratoga County, the existing property tax rate will bring in $2.8 million more in revenue,” county Treasurer Samuel J. Pitcheralle said.
A home assessed at $220,000 would pay $475 in county taxes under the proposed budget.
The draft budget’s proposed tax levy is rising from $46.3 million to $49.1 million — a 6 percent increase. While much of that may be absorbed by new construction, in reality the county tax rates in some towns are likely to be higher, when actual tax rates are calculated in December.
Still, the county’s taxes are expected to remain the lowest county taxes in the state.
Johnson said the $2.15 average rate should be sustainable until Advanced Micro Devices builds its new computer chip factory in Malta, and then the rate might fall farther because of taxes paid by the $4.6 billion plant and other development it will bring in.
“We’re still seeing a lot of new construction in the county, and we’re going to see a lot more in the next three years with AMD coming,” said County Administrator David A. Wickerham, who is the county budget officer.
The county 3 percent sales tax, its biggest revenue source, is up 6.3 percent year-to-date from 2007. But Pitcheralle is projecting it may grow only 2 percent next year, to an anticipated $52 million.
The Board of Supervisors will hold budget review meetings the week of Nov. 10. A public hearing on the budget will be held Dec. 3 in Ballston Spa, and a vote by the Board of Supervisors is scheduled for Dec. 10.
One of the few non-Republicans on the county board, Patti Southworth, I-Ballston, attended the budget presentation in Ballston Spa.
“It sounds fine from the initial presentation, but we’ll know more when we get into the nuts and bolts,” Southworth said afterward. “I’m happy there was money in there for the pagers. That was going to be a burden for our fire departments.”
Among budget highlights:
* The one-time purchase of 1,500 to 1,600 pagers for $600,000, enough pagers to supply the county’s volunteer fire departments with equipment compatible with the new county radio system.
“It really doesn’t make much sense to spend $15 million on a new microwave radio system and not provide local fire companies the tools they need to access it,” Johnson said.
* The new recreation trails on county forest parcels, with a budget of $15,000. One will be on Loudon Road near Wilton Mall, and others will be on two county forest properties in Northumberland. The trails will be built by county crews to hold the cost down. Supervisor Matthew Veich, R-Saratoga Springs, will chair a new ad hoc trails committee.
“This is a great initiative for quality of life in this county,” Veitch said. He said it could be the start of an extensive trail system on the 3,000 acres of forest owned by the county.
Johnson said at least one of the trails will be “dog-friendly.”
* Another $750,000 will be put into the county’s open space and farmland protection program, to buy land for open space or conservation easements on farms.
* There is $50,000 allocated toward a county-level stormwater management compliance program at Cornell Cooperative Extension. The existing stormwater program has lost state funding, and the county and 16 participating towns are being asked to cover the cost.
* There is no money included for construction of a county animal shelter, but Board of Supervisors Chairman George Hargrave, R-Galway, said the shelter will start in the spring, with the county borrowing the money.
There is $9.9 million included for other capital projects, mostly reconstruction of roads and bridges.
* The Maplewood Manor county infirmary in Ballston Spa is expected to need a $6.8 million subsidy from the general fund because Medicaid revenue falls short of expenses.
* There is $50,000 for another veterans’ tribute concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and other veterans’ activities, and $17,000 toward the Champlain-Hudson quadricentennial celebration.
* The county is still expected to have a $30 million surplus at the beginning of next year — an amount Wickerham said is prudent, given the possibility of further federal and state aid cuts in the next year.
* The budget includes 4 percent raises for unionized county employees, and supervisors and managers are expected to receive the same increase.
Categories: Schenectady County
