Village of Montgomery residents and officials crowded in the Montgomery Senior Center last Tuesday, April 1, to participate in the village’s most brain-taxing meeting: the annual tentative budget review. During this session, the board members surveyed the 11-page budget draft while residents asked questions and raised concerns about various budget lines, with a particular focus on the tentative tax rate.

Before getting into the budget review proper, Village Clerk Tina Murphy swore in Trustee Elects Cynthia Nokland and Stephen Imbriani to their new seats on the board. Due to municipal meeting law, however, the two’s first official meeting was on April 8, not April 1. Former Trustees Kevin Conero and Randy Wilbur reprised their roles one last time and conducted the budget review with the other board members.

As of April 1, the budget totaled $7,158,774, a $561,462 increase from last year’s budget. The tax rate was $20.80, or 18.04%, a sizable increase from last year’s $17.73, or 4.96%. Salaries for the board include $20,451 for the mayor, $11,770 for the deputy mayor, and $10,311 for each trustee; none of these salaries have changed since last year. Other notable salaries include $43,203 for the treasurer, $32,385 for the deputy treasurer, $37,272 for the building inspector, $19,811 for the justice, and $145,000 for the police chief.

One of the biggest concerns during the review was the tentative tax rate; many residents were upset with the rate increase, stressing that the Town of Montgomery already increased their taxes by 48% this year. If the 18.04% rate was approved, the average village household would pay an additional $36 monthly, or $432 annually.

“You’re asking a lot of this village. On top of the 18%, the town went up by 48%, and so has the county and state,” said Resident Mark Palczewski. “I’m on a fixed income, and $400 a year adds up because everyone’s asking us for more money. And it’s a 23% raise in the last two years because you pierced the tax cap by 4.9% the year before, and 23% is huge. It makes the village less livable.”

Mayor Mike Hembury said the board has been raising taxes based on New York State’s tax cap for 10 years, which has not accounted for inflation rates. Hembury assured residents that he and the board are working to lower the 18.04% tax rate, but they will have to pierce the state tax cap to a certain extent.

“For years, we’ve been only raising taxes according to New York State’s fantasy tax cap that was not in line with inflation. At some point in time, municipalities were going to have to face reality, and here it is on my watch. We have been slashing unnecessary functions and have finally collected over $100,000 from corporations that have owed this Village money for more than five years,” Hembury said during a post-meeting conversation on April 4. “If taxes were raised with inflation these past 10 years, we would not be in this situation. We are working diligently to lower this tax increase, and we will. However, I refuse to keep kicking the can down the road only to face this problem next year.”

Resident Don Berger brought up the budget’s fund balance, noting that this year’s estimated balance was $1,590,000, a substantial increase from last year’s $380,000. He asked the mayor and trustees where they got the money to bolster the balance.

Deborah Delgado, the village treasurer, attributed the fund balance to revenues collected from village projects, such as the Hudson Valley Food Bank and City Winery, and tax dollars from last year’s tax rate increase.

Resident Walt Pachuki commented on the deputy treasurer’s salary, questioning why the position received a huge raise and why the village needs two full-time treasurers. Previously, the village office comprised a full-time treasurer and a part-time deputy treasurer, but the latter recently became a full-time position.

“Can someone please explain why we need a deputy treasurer making that much money, and how that was a 200% increase from $10,000 to $32,000 now. I understand they went from part-time to full-time, but why would we need a full-time treasurer and a full-time deputy treasurer?”

Delgado explained that the state’s comptroller office, as stated in its 2021 audit report, recommended that the village hire two full-time treasurers. The village only recently followed through with this recommendation after the comptroller’s office released its follow-up report. On April 4, Hembury added that the village office should have three full-time treasurers, emphasizing that one person cannot handle all the responsibilities, but the village can only hire two as of now.

“One of the things that happened in 2021 was an audit that was done it the village, and they recommended having two full-timers in the office. That recommendation wasn’t followed when they did the follow-up recently, and we had to implement two full-time people in the office. That was the auditor and controllership’s recommendation in 2021; I wasn’t here at that time, but that was their recommendation.”

A few residents questioned why the village police department received a 25% increase to its budget, going from $1,117,027 to $1,331,903. Village Police Chief Joseph Guarneiri stated that these increases toward staffing, including salary raises for officers who reached their highest ranks, an investigator position, and overtime coverage.

At the end of the hearing, the board members entered a heated discourse over whether they should close the public hearing portion of the budget review. Trustee Randi Picarello and numerous residents wanted to keep the public hearing, as the board still needed to confirm the fund balance’s revenue sources, while the mayor and other trustees felt that keeping the public hearing open would be unnecessary. The board ultimately closed the public hearing and assured residents that it would provide an update on the budget during the village’s April 22 meeting.