ALTAMONT — At $2.51 million, the village of Altamont’s adopted budget for 2023-24 is up about 5.4 over this year’s spending plan.

The tax rate for next year will increase from $2.095 per $1,000 of assessed value to $2.15 per $1,000. The total tax levy is set to increase by about 2.3 percent, from $311,000 to $318,095.

According to the village, a home with a full-market value of $443,000 will pay about $20 more in property taxes next year, while a home with a full-market value of $241,00 would pay about $11 more.

Altamont’s spending appears set to significantly outpace receipts in 2023-24, with fund balance estimated to account for about 15 percent of all village revenue next year. 

Close to 70 percent of the increase in next year’s spending is attributable to a 12-percent hike in the overall village payroll, which will go from about $756,000 to approximately $846,000.

The three pots of money that make up the village budget are all set to go up next year:

— The general fund will see a 3.5-percent increase, from $1,397,600 to $1,449,000, while using close to $236,000 in fund balance to close the gap between revenues and appropriations; 

— The water fund is expected to see an 8-percent hike, $419,000 to $452,500, and uses about $68,000 of fund balance; and

— Sewer costs are anticipated to increase nearly 8 percent, from $566,000 to  611,000, while the village will tap its rainy-day sewer account for about $71,000 to cover appropriations. 

Costs and revenues

The village’s largest expenditures for next year are expected to be:

— Public safety, both police and fire, about $314,500;

— Transportation, including the snow removal and road construction performed by the village’s department of public works, about $304,000;

— General government support, about $244,000; and

— Employee benefits, about $173,500.

On the revenue side, Altamont expects to pay for its services with:

—  $318,095 in property taxes;

— $600,000 in county sales tax;

— About $142,000 from fire-protection services;

— Close to $46,000 from renting village property, which comes from a lease agreement for a cell tower on village property on Agawam Lane; and

— $39,400 in cable franchise fees.

Water and sewer

At about $452,000, the 2023-24 water budget is up about $33,000 over this year. Metered sales are anticipated at $325,000 and another $47,000 is to come in the form of renting village land; the water fund will use about $68,000 in reserves next year.  

After adopting a $110-per-user fee at the end of 2021 that was meant to stop the village from using so much of its rainy-day fund to help pay down the debt on the multi-million-dollar upgrades made to the Gun Club Road wastewater treatment plant, Altamont is once again pulling hard the tap to close a gap in its sewer fund. 

The 2013 upgrades cost the village each year about $165,000 in loan repayments, and isn’t due to be paid off for another 20 years. 

Compounding the problem today is that sewer customers went almost two decades without a rate increase, while operations-and-maintenance costs only went up — for example, an operator at the village’s wastewater treatment plant made about $47,000 per year as part of the 2016-17 budget (five years prior, that salary was about $42,000); next year, the operator’s annual salary will be a little over $58,000, which just barely keeps up with inflation.

The lack of rate increases was due in large part to Superintendent of Public Works Jeffrey Moller’s ability — both with his budget and equipment maintenance  — to keep costs down.

But recently those numbers have gone up.

The cost to operate and maintain the village’s wastewater system has increased close to 12 percent since last year and over 21 percent in the past three years.

In the past two budgets, the village set aside about $27,000 in appropriated fund balance to shore up its revenue shortfall, but still ended up drawing significantly from other balances to close its budget gap

For next year, it’s set aside $70,000 of fund balance.