NEW SCOTLAND —  At $8.43 million, New Scotland’s tentative budget for next year is up 4.35 percent over this year’s adopted spending plan.

For 2025, the town is proposing a town-wide tax rate increase of 3.27 percent, from about 1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value to approximately $1.55 per $1,000.

New Scotland’s 2025 levy, the amount to be raised in property taxes, is expected to be about $3 million, of which about $1.7 million comes from the town-wide tax. The remaining taxes come from benefit districts like those for fire, ambulance, emergency medical services, water, light, and sewer. 

But one tax some residents — Voorheesville residents, to be specific — won’t see on their bill is the own-outside-the-village rate, as the town last year changed the funding of the pots of money those taxes previously paid into. 

New Scotland has four main funds: the general fund town-wide (Fund A); the general fund for the town outside the village (Fund B); the highway fund for the town outside the village (DB); and the townwide highway fund (DA).

The  B and DB funds — the general fund and the highway fund outside the village — aren’t taxed. 

The town board during last year’s budget season changed the way the funds are financed. 

The A Fund in recent years was largely funded by property taxes, about 70 percent, with about 10 percent coming from the mortgage-recording tax. The B Fund received most of its revenue from county sales tax. Albany County distributes a portion of the sales tax it collects to municipalities based on population.

But as of late, mortgage taxes were down, and so the town changed the way it allocated funds. 

By allocating sales tax across all funds, the B Fund can effectively support the A Fund, preventing excessive tax increases for A Fund taxpayers. New Scotland in 2025 is appropriating that revenue across its four main funds: about $340,000 to A Fund; $659,000 to DA; $859,000 to B; and about $1.07 million to DB.  

All told, the total town-wide levy for 2025 — including special districts like those for lighting, water, and fire protection — is up about $112,500 compared to this year, from about $2.87 million to $2.98 million. To fill the levy gap, New Scotland expects to use about $648,000 from various appropriated fund balances, down from about $750,000 this year. 

The largest sources of revenue for 2025 are expected to be property taxes, about $2.98 million; sales tax, about $1.7 million; state highway department aid, about $431,600; and mortgage tax, $200,000.

The largest expenditures are expected to be: 

— Highway, about $1.98 million; 

— General government support, about $1 million

— Employee benefits for the four main funds, about $1 million;

— Home and community services, about $824,000, with the largest chunk expected to be the town’s refuse and garbage collection, about $713,000; and

— Public safety and health, about $453,000, with the town’s contract for ambulance services from the Albany County Sheriff’s Office making up about $418,000 — a figure that has increased over 30 percent since 2022. 

The salaries for the town’s full-time elected officials are increasing next year, from $72,956 to $75,145 for the supervisor; about $67,668 to $69,698 for the town clerk; and from $85,897 to $88,473 for the highway superintendent.

In part-time posts, the salaries of the town’s three judges would each increase from about $32,659 to about $33,638, while salaries for each of the four town board members would increase from $11,008 to $11,679.