NEW SCOTLAND — Supervisor Douglas LaGrange has proposed a $7.6 million budget for next year — about $200,000 less than this year. But he says the town is at a juncture where it has to decide whether to use more of its rainy-day account or risk exceeding the state-set tax cap.

LaGrange says the fund balance has been used to keep the town under the tax levy limit in previous years. However, he warns that these funds could be depleted to the point that the town will have to exceed the state’s limit of  2-percent or the cost of living adjustment, whichever is less. Superseding the tax cap would take a supermajority vote by the town board.

At the first of three public budget workshops, LaGrange said that less than 20 percent of the townwide fund balance would be available if the town continued to take from it.

“That would be about $400,000,” he said. “And we’re rapidly going to that figure at this point by using $70,000 a year.”

LaGrange says there are several options. One is to “stay the course,” deplete the fund balance more and potentially have to exceed the tax cap after a matter of years. Another is to exceed the cap rather than deplete the funds, leading to tax hikes. Two other options include — if no funds are collected in the fund for the town outside of the village of Voorheesville — having the sales tax go to the townwide fund, or holding the fund balances and having a modest increase in both funds.

At the meeting, LaGrange proposed the option to ultimately reduce the tax levy in the fund for the town outside of the village of Voorheesville and increase it in the townwide fund.

“We’d eventually not be using any fund balance out of anywhere,” said LaGrange.

The average increase in the town-wide tax would be $24, about a fourth of the original proposed amount, said LaGrange. The average decrease in taxes outside of the village would be $25.

The estimated unreserved townwide fund balance is $582,846, according to the proposed budget. The  estimated unreserved fund balance for the town outside the village is $1,635,190.

LaGrange says that the town has been very conservative with its taxes, and that, if it didn’t provide free garbage pick-up, it would have some of the lowest taxes in the area. However, he advises that lower taxes can’t always be chosen over depleting fund balances.

“There’s a reason why you don’t get below a certain level,” he warned.

Expenses and revenues

At $7,621,754, the projected budget is about $200,00 less than what was projected for 2016. LaGrange attributes that to being more careful with what was requested from departments.

“Historically, we find they request much more than what we were using,” he said. LaGrange noted that the plan doesn’t include requests such as a truck for the highway department and an ambulance for Onesquethaw Volunteer Fire Company; the truck will be funded through another payment system.

However, the town has seen some increases in expenses. This includes paying for a new employee’s salary at the Department of Public Works, partly because another employee, says LaGrange, is nearing retirement age, and partly because the Kensington Woods development will soon need its own sewage treatment system set up.

“There’s going to be a tremendous increase in the needs of DPW” once the system is set up, said LaGrange.

Building inspector Jeremy Cramer will have his hours increased from 35 to 40 a week. LaGrange says it was determined that Cramer, who is also one of the town’s two code enforcement officers, needed the extra hours to complete all his tasks. His hourly wage will not increase.

The town supervisor’s salary will increase by about $5,000, to $65,000 a year. Town employees’ salaries will increase by $800, to $9,626.93 a year. The town clerk, town judges, and highway supervisor’s salaries remain the same.

LaGrange says the salary increases can be attributed to a study done by the town several years ago in which data on the salaries of employees of towns deemed similar to New Scotland were collected. LaGrange says the “salary scale” indicated that New Scotland’s workers were being underpaid by comparison.

“It’s always  hard to vote on a salary increase for yourself,” said LaGrange, “but you have to be realistic.”

Another expenditure includes $20,000 to update the town’s comprehensive plan. LaGrange says $10,000 from a grant to fund the project is listed as revenue on the budget. The grant has not yet been issued.

Money going towards Albany County Emergency Medical Services due to closure of Voorheesville Area Ambulance will come from funds normally appropriated to VAAS until the volunteer EMS squad is completely dissolved, said LaGrange. Because a new contract with the county will be arranged later in the year, it is not a concern for the budget, he said.

LaGrange says it is likely mortgage and sales tax revenue will have increased.

Corrected on Oct. 14, 2016 the figure for the budget's total. The proposed 2017 budget is a spending plan for $7.6 million.