VOORHEESVILLE — At $3.2 million, the village of Voorheeville’s proposed budget for next year is down about three-quarters of 1 percent from this year’s adopted spending plan.

The tax rate paid by property owners in the village is set to increase about 2.7 percent, from $1.38 per $1,000 of assessed value to $1.42 per $1,000. 

The total taxable value of all properties in the village is going up about $2 million for 2026-27, from about $243.4 million to $246.4 million, a 1.2 percent increase, translating into a 2.8 percent bump, from $340,600 to $350,000, in property tax receipts.

Expenditures

The largest pot of village dollars, the general fund, will see its appropriations decline 7.6 percent next year, from about $2.26 million to $2.1 million. Expenditures include:

— Total transportation spending is set to go down about 13.5 percent, from $667,000 to about $577,000, and is largely driven by a reduction in expected capital equipment expenditures for next year;

— Employee benefits’ costs are due to go down about 6 percent in 2026-27, from about $315,000 to $295,400. The drop is due to a small decline across a number of the village’s benefit-related line-item spending: for example, medical and health reimbursement costs, which will go from about $128,800 to $115,000, a reduction of about $13,800; while payments to Social Security will decline about $5,300, from $42,000 to about $36,700; with firefighter and workers’ compensation together declining about $7,500;

— Public safety and health spending is set to go down about 4 percent next year, from about $224,400 to about $215,400. The drop is driven largely by a $22,000 decline in the fire department’s capital outlays, which are going to zero in 2026-27;

— Total general government spending is decreasing about 5 percent in 2026-27, from $477,500 to about $453,000; The clerk’s office salary line item goes from about $82,000 to approximately $42,000, a near 50-percent drop, which is largely due to village hall being run more efficiently;

During last budget season, the clerk’s budget line went from $48,800 to $77,935, a reflection of then-Clerk Treasurer Dan Wasserbach’s first full year on the job. Wasserbach would step down soon after, leaving the clerk’s office with the two employees who run it today; 

— The salaries of Voorheesville’s elected officials are set to go up a bit next year, with Mayor Richard Straut’s salary slated to increase from about $17,000 to $17,500, while the trustees’ individual per annum would go from about $7,500 to $7,715; and

— The only significant increase the village is facing next year is from its home-and-community resources budget line, which is set to increase by about 27 percent, from $274,295 to $349,50, and is entirely driven by a 54-percent in tipping fees at the city of Albany’s Rapp Road landfill. 

Revenues

The village expects its general fund to take in about 4 percent more than it did this year, with total A Fund revenue expected to be $2.1 million, up from $2 million. Funding sources include:

— The largest source of village funding is expected to be $1.3 million in county sales-tax dollars, an increase of 3.2 percent, which accounts for about 62 percent of all A Fund revenue; 

— Property taxes are due to increase about $10,000 in 2026-27, from about $340,000 this year to $350,000 next year;

— Maintenance of streets paving/CHIPs [Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program] is flat next year, at $155,000;

— Also flat are franchise fees, at $58,000;

— Utility receipt taxes, at $32,000, are also flat; and

— The mortgage-recording tax-take is expected to decline slightly from $31,000 this year to $30,000 next year.

Voorheesville’s proposed water budget for next year totals about $640,000, and the village expects rents to cover expenditures. But, with $120,000 in capital expenditures next year, it anticipates having to use $100,000 in reserves to balance its sewer budget.