Village taxes will decrease under 2006-07 budget

Warwick - The Village Board approved its $3,780,219 budget Monday night, which will put $117 back in the pocket of a typical village homeowner compared to last year’s budget. And that’s just for the general fund. Decreases in the sewer fund and the water fund land taxes are also being realized. The general fund, which contains most village expenditures including salaries and contracted services, is down $446,499 from last year’s budget. The village’s general fund rate will be $23.46 per $1,000 of assessed value, down from $25.80 last year. A home valued at $200,000 is assessed at 25 percent of that or $50,000. That homeowner’s share of taxes in 2006-07 will be $1,173.00. The other two budget components cover the sewer fund and the water fund. The 2006-07 sewer fund land tax will be $16.47, a savings of $2.06 per $1,000 of assessed land value. The water fund land rate is dropping for the second year in a row to $8.75, 31 cents less than last budget. In dollars and cents, a home on 20,000-square feet of land assessed at $11,500 would be taxed $189.40 for sewer land tax and $100.63 in water fund land tax, a total savings of $27.27. Add that to the general fund decrease and that average homeowner is saving $144.27 in total. Salaries in the village went up across the board approximately three percent. Charlie Papaceno, a longtime village resident and brother of former mayor Nick Papaceno, asked about the mayor and trustee’s salaries. The mayor will make $27,554.70 in the 2006-07 budget and each of the four trustees will be paid $6,371.88. Papaceno suggested having a sliding scale for these salaries, the same type of scale that is used for other employees based on seniority. “I think a new mayor or new trustee should start at a lower level,” said Papaceno, “and get raises as time passes in office. At this rate, we’ll be paying somebody $50,000 to run our village.” “We will look into that,” said Mayor Michael Newhard.