Proposed village budget to increase less than 1 percent - Public hearing set for Monday, April 21

Warwick — Village of Warwick residents may not even notice their tax increase this fiscal year. That’s because while the general fund will increase by 3.95 percent if the proposed budget is approved, the water fund land tax has been eliminated and the sewer fund land tax will decrease slightly, bringing the overall increase in taxes for Village of Warwick residents to less than one percent. The total budget proposed for 2008-09 is $6,862,034, or more than $300,000 less than last year’s budget. Part of the reason for that is the elimination of the water fund land tax which funded the reservoir dredging project via short term bonds. The village’s general fund, which includes all salaries, benefits, insurance, and police is $4,655,160, up $157,218 from last year’s fund. The proposed tax rate for the general fund is $25.56 per $1,000 of assessed value, up 3.95 percent or $0.97 cents, from last year’s rate of $24.59. The sewer land tax budget is decreasing 0.06 percent. The rate will be $18.49 per $1,000 of land value, down from last year’s rate of $18.60. The water land tax, which was $3.21 per $1,000 of land value last year, has been completely eliminated because the bonds were paid off this past fiscal year. Last year, both the sewer and water land taxes were lowered 12.9 percent and 63.3 percent, respectively. A home that is assessed at $50,000, or less than one quarter of market value, will pay $1,278 toward the general fund. This is an increase of $48.50 for the average taxpayer over last year’s. A home on 20,000 square feet of land assessed at $11,500 would be taxed $212.64 for sewer land tax, down $38.18 from last year’s amount. The net increase for this example homeowner is $10.32. “We’ve been watching our dollars,” Mayor Michael Newhard said. “We look at our budgets in longer terms, recognizing that, how we’re going to be more fiscally responsible. The bond anticipation note we just paid off was for five years. We paid it off quickly, paid down the debt quickly.” Newhard gave credit to the staff that helped put it together, including big accolades to the village treasurer Gail Romanoski, the Department of Public Works supervisor Steve Sisco and village accountant Mike Vernieri. “Gail is focused; on top of it. It’s important to have someone on your team like Gail,” said Newhard. “Steve (Sisco) comes in with very clear, very strong budgets every year. He does it very well. He makes me and the board look good. And Mike—he knows the numbers. We have great communication.” The budget public hearing is scheduled for Monday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Hall. A copy of the budget is available to view in the clerk’s office.