Greg Maker, reporter
FISHKILL, N.Y. – Fishkill Supervisor Bob LaColla said that the town spent less on special districts, such as water and sewer, in 2013 and will use those savings to pay off the deficit in a fund used exclusively for the town to get back in the black by 2015.
The town is trying to close the deficit in four funds, which include town-wide services, services for the town only, the town-wide highway fund, and the highway fund exclusively for the town. LaColla said in two years they should be out of the financial misery found by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a recent audit due to this plan.
“This will allow us to take care of capital needs we have that we neglected such as paving roads,” LaColla said. “It will also be seen as a deficit-reduction plan by Moody’s and the state.”
Councilman Tony Curry said that this plan would help the town focus more on other services it can offer to residents.
“The reduction in the deficit is going to put us in a position to get rid of the black cloud that has been hanging over the town, “Curry said.
LaColla suggested to the Town Board to run up to the tax cap of 1.66 percent and possibly override it in case there is a calculation error. A local law would have to be adopted to do that but LaColla said the board decided not to go this route considering it adopted a 53 percent tax increase last year. Both Councilmen Brian Callahan and Tim Tuttle said that it would be a mistake to go over the tax cap.
“I’m not going to vote for anything like that,” Callahan said. “We need to work the numbers out and see where they fall.”
Instead the board opted to reduce the amount of money it would spend to buy down the deficit to leave a little bit of a cushion to make sure it doesn’t go over the tax cap. Though the 16.3 million budget carries a 1.66 percent tax increase, LaColla said that the final number should be between 1.36 and 1.46 percent.
The Town Board also accepted a request from Judge Harold Epstein to raise the salaries of court employees. Currently, the court offices in Fishkill are only open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Part of the compromise would be to increase the hours of the court to 5 p.m., which would effectively expand the court employees workweek to 40 hours thus increasing their pay. LaColla said that the salary increases will be offset by a high deductible health insurance plan that should save the town money in the long run.
“They are pressed trying to get their work done as it is,” LaColla said about the court employees.
Tuttle said that the extra hours will help the town process tickets issued by the police department which are currently backlogged.
“They are currently processing tickets from 2009,” Tuttle said. “This will help increase the amount of money coming into the town. There is going to be a net savings to the town because of this.”
Additionally, LaColla said that several water districts outside of the town will have their rates adjusted because the rates in some districts have remained the same for years while others have seen astronomical increases, such as the Dutchess Park Sewer District, which had its rates raised 135 percent in August.
“We are going to make adjustments where necessary,” LaColla said. “There seems to be a lack of clarity in debt service in some districts.”
LaColla said that the Town Board is expected to adopt the preliminary budget to present to the public at its meeting on Oct. 23. A public hearing will be set for input from the community on Nov. 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment