Town Board Adds $50,000 to Lower Taxes

RFH 2010, Cover Stories, News

Thu, Dec 09, 2010

By a vote of 3-2 the Town of Hamilton Board tonight agreed to use another $50,000 of its fund balance to all but eliminate any tax increase in the 2011 budget. The budget approved by the board last month included the use of $50,000 of the more than $1 million fund balance to lower taxes.

Voting in favor of adding the additional money were Supervisor Bob Kuiper, and board members David Holcomb and Carolyn Todd.

Voting against it were David Crumb and Peter Darby.

The vote came after a hastily called two-hour pubic hearing attended by about 30 residents, including members of the Village of Hamilton Board and Mayor Sue McVaugh. Kuiper said he called the special meeting after hearing numerous complaints from residents about the impending 8 percent tax hike for people living outside the villages of Hamilton and Earlville.

Taxes for the residents in the two villages will decrease by more than 23 percent this year in part because the town changed a number of how it allocates a number of budget items. The addition of the second $50,000 further lowered the town taxes payed by village residents.

Residents outside the two villages will see about a 1 percent increase in their taxes. Before the vote, their taxes would have gone up 8 percent, which would have amounted to an increase of about $20 for someone whose home is valued at $100,000.

The town has historically had taxpayers in the villages pay for some items that were already covered in their own municipality's budgets. For example, the town had charged the cost of the codes enforcement officer to all taxpayers, despite the fact the Village of Hamilton has its own such officer. Now, that expense is charged to just those living outside the two villages.

Members of the audience applauded following the vote.

Darby and Crumb voted against spending the additional $50,000 because it, as Darby said, "only kicks the can down the road" and it will have to dealt with next year. Darby wanted the taxes to be reduced by cutting expenses instead of tapping the fund balalnce.

"I just hope alll of you show up next year when you get an 18 percent tax increase," said Crumb.

The meeting was called at the last minute because the county had passed its budget Tuesday and needed final figures from Hamilton to print tax bills.

The fund balance -- originally $1.2 million -- was discovered about a year ago during a routine audit by the state Comptroller's office. The town had for many years not carried any fund balances forward into the next budget year. Instead, it started each year at zero and banked the unspent balances.

Of that amount, some $433,000 is in a fund for capital purchases such as a new snowplow.

During the meeting Kuiper suggested he would form a committee to study what to do with the rest of the fund balance.

Photo: From left, Carolyn Todd, Peter Darby and David Crumb.

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