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Town of Kinderhook presents preliminary budget
Paul Crossman
KINDERHOOK — According to the preliminary budget presented on Friday, the Town of Kinderhook can expect a tax rate increase of 28 cents, bringing the tax rate to $1.57 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
This represents an increase of about 22 percent for the town as a whole, meaning that a $200,000 house would be paying about $56 more than last year.
Both Kinderhook Town Supervisor Doug McGivney and Budget Director Pegeen Mulligan-Moore did want to reinforce that this budget is only preliminary, and though it could go either way, there is a decent chance the tax rate could drop by the time the final budget is completed.
“Unfortunately, when people look at a preliminary budget, it’s usually pretty high because [for departments] it’s pretty much a wish-list of things they want money for,” Mulligan-Moore said.
She went on to say that a good majority of the departments within the town submit budget requests for all the items they want or need, and then in a series of budget workshops the town goes through each list and determines what to approve and what not to approve, eventually coming through with a final budget. Since not all the items submitted by each department are approved, the overall tax increase represented in the preliminary budget usually goes down.
Though this is more commonly the case, McGivney is also concerned with the decrease in anticipated revenue for the 2010 year, which could negatively affect the tax levy. The board is expecting sales and mortgage tax reported to decrease, which, according to McGivney, generally make up about 60 percent of the town’s revenue.
If the revenue decrease happens to be especially bad, the supervisor says that the town may have to consider either raising the tax rate or cutting back on some of the programs.
Either way, he said that the board should have a much better idea of what the revenue would look like by the first budget committee meeting Oct. 12.
Though the raise in the tax rate for Kinderhook on average is 28 cents, the town is divided into three major tax funds, fund A — which is a general tax, town wide and paid by everyone, fund B — which is considered town-outside and is only paid by those people who live outside the villages of Kinderhook and Valatie, and the DB fund — which is a highway fund also paid by those outside the villages.
What this means is that people who live in the villages will only pay fund A tax to the town, which will actually be a much lower tax rate increase than those who live in the town but outside the villages. The tax rate increase for district A will only be approximately $.05 per $1,000, rising from last years rate of $.57 to $.62 per $1,000.
This may seem much lower than the overall town tax, but those residents who live in the town and the village will also be subject to a village tax on top of that levied by the town.
Though McGivney is concerned about a decrease in revenue in the future, both he, and the rest of the board plan to do everything they can in order to keep the tax rate steady for the people of the town.
“I’m hopeful we can work through this without subjecting the people of the town to a substantial tax increase,” McGivney said. “But I am concerned about overestimating incoming revenue, over which we have no control. We don’t want to get into a Copake situation.”
Budget workshops will be held to help determine the final budget 7 p.m. on the nights of Oct. 12, 26, and 28 at the Kinderhook Town Hall.
On a different, but equally important note, the town will also be having a blood drive on Oct. 23, and the board encourages any and all community members to attend. The drive will take place at the Dottie Ostrowski Senior Center on State Farm Road in Volunteer’s Park from 1 to 6 p.m.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com.
KINDERHOOK — According to the preliminary budget presented on Friday, the Town of Kinderhook can expect a tax rate increase of 28 cents, bringing the tax rate to $1.57 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
This represents an increase of about 22 percent for the town as a whole, meaning that a $200,000 house would be paying about $56 more than last year.
Both Kinderhook Town Supervisor Doug McGivney and Budget Director Pegeen Mulligan-Moore did want to reinforce that this budget is only preliminary, and though it could go either way, there is a decent chance the tax rate could drop by the time the final budget is completed.
“Unfortunately, when people look at a preliminary budget, it’s usually pretty high because [for departments] it’s pretty much a wish-list of things they want money for,” Mulligan-Moore said.
She went on to say that a good majority of the departments within the town submit budget requests for all the items they want or need, and then in a series of budget workshops the town goes through each list and determines what to approve and what not to approve, eventually coming through with a final budget. Since not all the items submitted by each department are approved, the overall tax increase represented in the preliminary budget usually goes down.
Though this is more commonly the case, McGivney is also concerned with the decrease in anticipated revenue for the 2010 year, which could negatively affect the tax levy. The board is expecting sales and mortgage tax reported to decrease, which, according to McGivney, generally make up about 60 percent of the town’s revenue.
If the revenue decrease happens to be especially bad, the supervisor says that the town may have to consider either raising the tax rate or cutting back on some of the programs.
Either way, he said that the board should have a much better idea of what the revenue would look like by the first budget committee meeting Oct. 12.
Though the raise in the tax rate for Kinderhook on average is 28 cents, the town is divided into three major tax funds, fund A — which is a general tax, town wide and paid by everyone, fund B — which is considered town-outside and is only paid by those people who live outside the villages of Kinderhook and Valatie, and the DB fund — which is a highway fund also paid by those outside the villages.
What this means is that people who live in the villages will only pay fund A tax to the town, which will actually be a much lower tax rate increase than those who live in the town but outside the villages. The tax rate increase for district A will only be approximately $.05 per $1,000, rising from last years rate of $.57 to $.62 per $1,000.
This may seem much lower than the overall town tax, but those residents who live in the town and the village will also be subject to a village tax on top of that levied by the town.
Though McGivney is concerned about a decrease in revenue in the future, both he, and the rest of the board plan to do everything they can in order to keep the tax rate steady for the people of the town.
“I’m hopeful we can work through this without subjecting the people of the town to a substantial tax increase,” McGivney said. “But I am concerned about overestimating incoming revenue, over which we have no control. We don’t want to get into a Copake situation.”
Budget workshops will be held to help determine the final budget 7 p.m. on the nights of Oct. 12, 26, and 28 at the Kinderhook Town Hall.
On a different, but equally important note, the town will also be having a blood drive on Oct. 23, and the board encourages any and all community members to attend. The drive will take place at the Dottie Ostrowski Senior Center on State Farm Road in Volunteer’s Park from 1 to 6 p.m.
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com.
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