Like most Western New York governments, the Town of Aurora is feeling the effects of a harsh economy. The town’s tentative budget, released last week, plans for decreased revenues in multiple areas, from interest earnings on town bank accounts to fees for building permits, mortgage tax dollars, and sales tax dollars shared by Erie County.
Going up are tax rates for each of the town’s main funds. All town residents pay into the town-wide general fund, which has a projected tax rate of $2.77 per thousand, up 2.63 percent from 2009’s budget. The highway fund, supported by town residents outside the Village of East Aurora, has a tentative tax rate of $1.56 per thousand, a 5.69 percent increase. The biggest change is for the “town outside village” or “part town” general fund, which will jump to $1.92 per thousand, an increase of 41.38 percent.
The “part town” rate hike is due primarily to the town’s police contract with the Village of East Aurora, Town Supervisor Dwight Krieger explained in a meeting with the Advertiser. Under its agreement with the village, the town will pay 45.5 percent of police costs for ‘08-'09; 49 percent for '09-'10; and 53 percent for '10-'11 costs. Krieger noted that the costs themselves are also increasing over time. He also maintains that it would make sense for the town to take responsibility for the police department once it is paying more than half of police costs.
Contractual police costs in the town’s 2010 tentative budget total more than $1.2 million, making up nearly 93 percent of expenditures for the “part town” budget. In all, appropriations for the “town outside village” general fund are $1,312,492, up 12.79 percent from the 2009 approved budget.
Planned spending from the highway fund is down more than $12,000 to $1,143,707, but lower revenues and less money from the fund balance means that the amount to be raised by taxation is up $29,200.
In the town-wide general fund, appropriations are down 3.72 percent from last year’s approved budget to 2,763,515. However, that number is 10.94 percent higher than the actual spending for 2008. Supervisor Dwight Krieger said that the increase is not due to any single item, but rising costs for workers and services over the past two years.
The 2010 tentative budget includes pay raises of three percent for most employees. Salaries for the Senior Center director and part-time workers saw larger increases. Krieger said those raises brought their pay more into line with other town employees.
At an Oct. 5 work session, the Town Board also decided to increase the salaries of full-time elected officials, including the town clerk and highway superintendent, by three percent. Councilman Norman Suttell said that the current salaries “seem to be out of line with what they should be getting,” based on their responsibilities.
Town Board members, whose salaries have been unchanged for several years, decided to cut their own pay. Councilmen will drop $1,000 for a salary of $9,975 each, while the supervisor’s pay will fall $1,500 to $34,402. (The tentative budget numbers cited above have not been adjusted to reflect the changes decided upon at the work session.)
“We understand the economy, the problems that everybody’s going through, and we said, ‘Let’s do our part in reducing costs for the town’,” Krieger noted.
Krieger also said that officials have worked to control expenses, trying to trim where possible without cutting the town’s services. “I think over the years everybody’s been pretty frugal… we nickel and dime it,” Krieger stated, noting that the town has looked at everything from employee travel to the way office supplies are ordered.
A public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27. The town has until Nov. 20 to adopt its budget.
Krieger said he did not expect the tax rates to fall dramatically between the tentative budget and adopted budget, but he hopes to come down slightly from the 2.6 percent hike in the town-wide tax rate and by as much as a point in the 5.69 percent highway tax rate increase.
Going up are tax rates for each of the town’s main funds. All town residents pay into the town-wide general fund, which has a projected tax rate of $2.77 per thousand, up 2.63 percent from 2009’s budget. The highway fund, supported by town residents outside the Village of East Aurora, has a tentative tax rate of $1.56 per thousand, a 5.69 percent increase. The biggest change is for the “town outside village” or “part town” general fund, which will jump to $1.92 per thousand, an increase of 41.38 percent.
The “part town” rate hike is due primarily to the town’s police contract with the Village of East Aurora, Town Supervisor Dwight Krieger explained in a meeting with the Advertiser. Under its agreement with the village, the town will pay 45.5 percent of police costs for ‘08-'09; 49 percent for '09-'10; and 53 percent for '10-'11 costs. Krieger noted that the costs themselves are also increasing over time. He also maintains that it would make sense for the town to take responsibility for the police department once it is paying more than half of police costs.
Contractual police costs in the town’s 2010 tentative budget total more than $1.2 million, making up nearly 93 percent of expenditures for the “part town” budget. In all, appropriations for the “town outside village” general fund are $1,312,492, up 12.79 percent from the 2009 approved budget.
Planned spending from the highway fund is down more than $12,000 to $1,143,707, but lower revenues and less money from the fund balance means that the amount to be raised by taxation is up $29,200.
In the town-wide general fund, appropriations are down 3.72 percent from last year’s approved budget to 2,763,515. However, that number is 10.94 percent higher than the actual spending for 2008. Supervisor Dwight Krieger said that the increase is not due to any single item, but rising costs for workers and services over the past two years.
The 2010 tentative budget includes pay raises of three percent for most employees. Salaries for the Senior Center director and part-time workers saw larger increases. Krieger said those raises brought their pay more into line with other town employees.
At an Oct. 5 work session, the Town Board also decided to increase the salaries of full-time elected officials, including the town clerk and highway superintendent, by three percent. Councilman Norman Suttell said that the current salaries “seem to be out of line with what they should be getting,” based on their responsibilities.
Town Board members, whose salaries have been unchanged for several years, decided to cut their own pay. Councilmen will drop $1,000 for a salary of $9,975 each, while the supervisor’s pay will fall $1,500 to $34,402. (The tentative budget numbers cited above have not been adjusted to reflect the changes decided upon at the work session.)
“We understand the economy, the problems that everybody’s going through, and we said, ‘Let’s do our part in reducing costs for the town’,” Krieger noted.
Krieger also said that officials have worked to control expenses, trying to trim where possible without cutting the town’s services. “I think over the years everybody’s been pretty frugal… we nickel and dime it,” Krieger stated, noting that the town has looked at everything from employee travel to the way office supplies are ordered.
A public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. on Oct. 27. The town has until Nov. 20 to adopt its budget.
Krieger said he did not expect the tax rates to fall dramatically between the tentative budget and adopted budget, but he hopes to come down slightly from the 2.6 percent hike in the town-wide tax rate and by as much as a point in the 5.69 percent highway tax rate increase.
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