Fishkill Readies to Bite Fiscal Bullet as Budget Preparation Looms

Greg Maker, Hudson Valley Reporter. For more local news, please check out the papers website.

http://hudsonvalleyreporter.com/dutchess/2013/09/fishkill-readies-bite-fiscal-bullet-budget-preparation-looms/

FISHKILL, N.Y. – A year after increasing taxes in the town by 53 percent, Fishkill’s new administration under Supervisor Bob LaColla is facing an uphill battle to craft the town’s 2014 budget.

With the state tax cap implemented at 1.66 percent next year, LaColla said that the town has only $239,352 more to work with this year than last if they are to remain under that cap. Of that money, LaColla said that $85,000 has already been designated to healthcare under the National Healthcare Act, also known as “Obamacare” which kicks in on Jan. 1, 2014.

LaColla said an additional $25,000 is already designated to contractual obligations. The majority of the contracts are for the police department, which signed a four-year contract that gives department employees a three percent increase each year over that time period. Started in 2012, the contract will go into its third year for this budget.

One upside for the town is that it will see a $64,000 decrease in retirement expenses. LaColla said that over the past three years, 20 municipal positions have been cut. The town no longer has a full-time tax receiver or a director of affordable housing. Other positions were cut from the building department and the courts. Additionally, the Town Board accepted the resignation of Recreation Director Cynthia Starke at its meeting on Wednesday night. LaColla said that the position will be filled but Starke’s successor will be paid less than she was.

“It helps but we have to keep in mind that the town was operating without a capital plan for years,” LaColla said. “There are roads that need to be repaired and parks that need maintenance. When you ignore maintenance and move toward replacing roads rather than repaving them like the previous administration did, the cost goes up. If we don’t resurface the roads they will fall apart. Not doing maintenance increases costs down the road.”

LaColla said that he has had discussions with all of the department heads who have requested everything from money for maintenance and capital expenditures to pay increases and more municipal positions to be filled. LaColla said that the town will not be able to accommodate all of their requests.

“The department heads are not going to be thrilled but we as a board appreciate the work they have done,” LaColla said.

The preliminary budget needs to be submitted to Town Clerk Darlene Bellis no later than Sept. 30.

“We will work to shave down the budget to get under the tax cap,” LaColla said. “We’ll have a month to take a hard look at it.”