Village taxes decreasing across the board

Public hearing set for Monday, By Linda Smith Hancharick Warwick - The village’s tax rate on general fund, sewer fund, and water fund are all decreasing this year. The village released its tentative 2006-07 budget figures last week. The general fund, which contains most village expenditures including salaries and contracted services, is proposed at $3,780,219, a decrease of $446,499 from last year’s budget. The decrease is, in part, thanks to the new police structure devised by the town and village in December. The village no longer contracts for all of its police service from the town. Instead, the town now charges village residents directly on their town taxes for its basic police services. Some police cost comes from village taxes, though. The village’s general fund rate will be $23.46 per $1,000 of assessed value, down from last year’s figure of $25.80. A home valued at $200,000 is assessed at 25 percent of that or $50,000. That homeowner’s share of taxes would be $1,173.00, down $117 from last year. The other two budget components cover the sewer fund and the water fund. The 2006-07 sewer fund land tax will decrease to $16.47 from $18.53 per $1,000 of assessed land value last year. In 2005-06, the sewer fund land tax more than doubled from the previous year. The water fund land rate is dropping for the second year in a row to $8.75, 31 cents less than the 05-06 levy. A home on 20,000-square feet of land assessed at $11,500 would be taxed $189.40 in sewer tax, down from $213.10 last year. The same homeowner will now be paying a water fund tax of $100.63, down from $104.20. The sewer fund goes only toward sewer projects; water fund is spent only on water district projects. Mayor Michael Newhard said this drop in the tax rate is the culmination of planning over the past three years. “We are very pleased with this budget and think taxpayers will be, too,” said Newhard. “We have paid off some debt early, which allowed us to do this.” The village has earmarked $1.5 million in this sewer budget for the Park Lane project. For several years, the sewer line at Park Lane has had severe problems, causing back-ups in the line. In each of the last two budgets, $60,000 has been allocated to this project. The money for that project is from a bond anticipation note. According to town and village officials, the new police structure will save village taxpayers a total of about $160,000 this year. The village was paying 39 percent of the total police budget, which would have amounted to $1.9 million this year. Instead, village taxpayers will pay $1.76 million. A public hearing is set for Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Village Hall.