VOORHEESVILLE — At $2.62 million, Voorheesville’s proposed budget for 2022-23 is up about 7.88 percent over this year’s adopted spending plan. 

A public hearing on the budget proposal is set for Monday, April 4, at 6:30 p.m., at Village Hall.

The tax rate for village property owners is set to increase from $1.29151 per $1,000 of assessed value this year to $1.3075 per $1,000 next year. Village residents also pay into New Scotland’s townwide general and highway funds at about $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The property tax levy is set to increase by approximately 2 percent, from about $308,500 to about $315,000, which is under the state-set limit. The entire village has an assessed value of about $262.7 million of which about $240.7 million is taxable.

The proposed 2022-23 budget continues to make rosy revenue projections coming out of the pandemic, with $1.1 million anticipated in county sales-tax dollars. For this year’s budget, the village estimated $950,000 in sales tax from Albany County. It now anticipates it will end the year with 1.16 million county sales-tax dollars.

General fund

The appropriations proposed in the village’s general budget, which is largely funded by sales-tax dollars, total about $1.72 million, up from $1.54 million this year.

About $570,000 is allocated for transportation, which includes, among other appropriations, public works department expenditures and a one-time equipment costs of $110,000 for a front-end loader; about $311,500 is for general government support, including the salaries of the village board, mayor, and clerk-treasurer and deputy clerk.

About $217,000 is for home and community, which includes fees paid to the Rapp Road landfill, the village’s contract for recycling pick-up, and everything having to do with planning and zoning in Voorheesville; about $238,000 is for employee benefits; approximately $164,500 is for public safety and health; about $89,500 is to service the village’s debt; and approximately $36,700 is for culture and recreation.

The village is expecting about $1.67 million in revenues from the following sources:

— About $1.1 million in sales tax, which is distributed by the county based on population;

— About $315,000 from property taxes;

— $64,000 in franchise fees;

— About $76,000 in highway aid;

— About $53,000 from property rentals;

— $45,000 from mortgage taxes; and

— $27,000 from taxing utility providers.

Nothing would be appropriated from fund balance.

Water and sewer

The proposed water budget totals about $683,000, which includes an additional $100,000 to start work on main upgrades and replacements.

The village estimates it will receive $587,400 in revenues from two main sources: $560,000 in metered water sales and $24,000 in interest and penalties from water rent. No fund balance will be used. 

With its Main Street sewer project, the village plans to roll its smaller sewer district — along Pleasant Street —  in with its larger one — Salem Hills, which includes Maple Avenue, Mountainview Street, and Quail Run — creating one district. 

Voorheesville has a 2022-23 sewer budget of about $312,000. 

The village anticipates $262,380 in rents with the remaining $40,000 coming from $7,645 of fund balance and $32,500 from the closed out account of the Pleasant Street sewer district. 

New post

With current clerk-treasurer Linda Pasquali getting set to retire, the village will be filling her position at the upcoming reorganizational meeting on April 4.

But the appointment process isn’t straightforward.

On April 4, the board of trustees will be hiring an executive assistant for Mayor Rich Straut. 

Village law limits the clerk-treasurer post to Voorheesville residents, village attorney Rich Reilly said during the trustees’ March 22 meeting. Initially, the thought was the village could do this all on its own by passing a local law, Straut said, but that wasn’t the case.

But state statute permits a village to adopt a resolution allowing it to hire a resident from within the county where it’s located, Reilly said. 

However, the best candidate for the job lives just outside Albany County, in Schoharie County, which means getting special state legislation passed to be able to make the hire, a process the village has undertaken with Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy. But that legislation has yet to pass.

So, the mayor said, “We’re going to bring that person on as an assistant to the mayor until such time as we have the legislation [in place] that person can then be appointed clerk-treasurer of the village.” 

Asked about why he couldn’t hire someone who resided in the county, Straut said, of the 14 people who were interviewed, the best candidate by far lived just outside of Albany County.

The village has not divulged the name of that person.

As for when the law will get enacted, the legislative session ends in June.