‘A little too high’

Maybrook’s proposed 9% tax hike sparks concerns

By Laura Fitzgerald
Posted 4/17/19

Several residents voiced concern about the nine percent tax increase in Maybrook’s 2019-20 budget at a public hearing on April 8.

“I think nine percent is just a little too …

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‘A little too high’

Maybrook’s proposed 9% tax hike sparks concerns

Posted

Several residents voiced concern about the nine percent tax increase in Maybrook’s 2019-20 budget at a public hearing on April 8.


“I think nine percent is just a little too high,” Maybrook resident Lou Curti said. “And I understand our slush fund, the cushion, we need to have something in place.”


Currently, the village’s fund balance is at zero, so the tax hike will help replenish the fund balance. The zero-fund balance has caused the Office of the State Comptroller to list the village as moderately stressed for fiscal year ending in 2018.


The fund balance is a municipality’s difference between assets and liabilities. The New York State Government Finance Officers’ Association recommends municipalities keep a fund balance of at least two months of annual total expenditures as insurance against unanticipated expenses or revenue shortfalls.


The new 2019-20 tax rate for a Town of Montgomery resident will be $15.43 per $1,000 assessed, up from $14.17 last year. The new 2019-20 tax rate for a Town of Hamptonburg resident, which has a small contingency in Maybrook, will be $10.03 per $1,000 assessed. The village board took $100,000 out of the fund balance last year to keep taxes low and thought the village would encumber the money over the year. However, the village did not encumber the balance.


Now, board members said the village must build up the fund balance again.


“Nine percent will help us get our fund balance back,” board member Jim Barnett said.


Mayor Dennis Leahy said the board has been taking money out of the fund balance for several years to keep taxes low and hoped future economic development would offset the low tax base. At the same time, the village has been working on infrastructure repairs.


“I had a meeting with the state comptroller and she said you’re getting a lot of things accomplished but you’re under taxing your residents,” Leahy said. “That’s the problem.”


Several residents questioned the village board’s practice of using fund balance in the hopes that economic development would bring in more tax ratables. Residents also asked whether taxpayer money was spent to prepare for development projects, including the Galaxy project.


“You can’t do a budget based on what you hope is going to happen,” Maybrook resident Linda Amodio said.
Deputy Mayor Robert Pritchard said no taxpayer money has been spent preparing for Galaxy Limited, LLC, a potential industrial park on 80 acres of rail side property with up to 850,000 square feet of industrial and commercial space, light industrial pad-ready sites, a Main Street extension over the tracks and a two-mile road and hike/bike path with access to Stewart State Forest.


“We’re not spending taxpayer dollars on hopes and dreams,” Pritchard said. “Our engineer, our attorney, all of these board members have been sitting down with these people to try to get them to invest, not your tax dollars, but $6 million of their own money to bring a road two miles long. They have a lot of people that are very interested in coming and building with rail connections.”


Pritchard explained the village did spend $17,000 on engineering and legal work to rezone downtown for shovel-ready projects, which is the other side of the railroad tracks from Galaxy.


Leahy said discussions with Galaxy have been very encouraging. Galaxy is currently completing environmental reviews under SEQRA.


Galaxy recently received a $600,000 Empire State Development grant for the first phase of the project, which includes preparation of several site pads and the two-mile access road.


While he does anticipate Galaxy will come to the village, Leahy said it’s difficult to predict when that might happen.


“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Leahy said. “And all I can do is hope for it, and hope it happens.”


Several residents pitched ideas to save money, such as closing the George C Bullis Community Center due to low use.


Another resident suggested trash pickup once a week instead of twice a week.


“Sometimes you have to give up something to have more,” Maybrook resident Meg Cusumano said.

Another resident suggested consolidation of the Maybrook Police Department with the Town of Montgomery Police Department.


The board cautioned against consolidation, stating it would lead to longer response times. If the village changed its mind after the police departments consolidated, Maybrook would never get its department back.


The board said while it will take into consideration every suggestion that residents pitch, many of the suggestions given that night were rather extreme. Leahy said the situation might not be as dire as some residents might think.


“It’s not doomsday,” Leahy said. “The fund balance is low, and we are going to watch the budget going forward and try to encumber and build up the fund balance.”


The public hearing for local law number one of 2019: law to override the tax cap, will be at the next board meeting at village hall on April 22 at 7 p.m.

Maybrook, taxes, fund balance, budget