To have enough revenue for next year, the Town of Brookfield will go over its state formula tax cap of 2 percent.
At last week’s Town Board meeting, Supervisor Loren Corbin explained that staying at 2 percent would only allow the 2025 budget to go up $26,000.
“That is nowhere near what we need,’’ Corbin said.
State law allows municipal boards to override their tax limit by a majority vote of board members.
Corbin, Clint Abrams and Jeff Mayne voted yes, while Joe Walker and Dewitt Head voted no.
Head said the state law was made to save politicians from gouging taxpayers. “If you run a business you can’t do that,’’ he said. “It’s hard for people to afford things because everything is going up.’’
Abrams said he agreed, and costs were going up for the town as well.
“We had to raise wages in the Highway Department because we couldn’t get anyone to work,’’ he said.
The contract agreed to with the Highway Department union calls for a 3 percent increase in wages over three years.
“We don’t have the choice a business does,’’ Abrams said. “We can’t close.’’
The budget, which will be adopted Nov. 11, has about $137,000 more in expenses than anticipated revenues.
Head said some of the projected revenues could be made higher.
Corbin said counting on high revenues could mean a disaster if they don’t come through, requiring the town to use its savings, which is around $620,000.
The town’s savings, he said, is usually used for unanticipated costs that come up during the year.
In addition, Brookfield, like other towns, has to pay for road repairs upfront and wait for reimbursement by the state. “If we had to borrow it would be at 5 to 9 percent interest,’’ Corbin said.
In 2024 the town has had to so far use $100,000 from the fund balance to cover costs in the Highway ...
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