Guilderland propose $30M budget



GUILDERLAND — During an election year, the same budget can often be interpreted in two different ways.

While town Democrats point to this year’s proposed budget as sound fiscal management on their part, challenging Republicans say the budget does little to improve quality-of-life services and they point out that town board members continue to give themselves pay hikes.

The budget proposal for 2008, including all sewer and water districts, highway spending, and parks costs as well as the general fund total $30.46 million.

Although, on average, individual department spending throughout the town is up around 2 percent, with some departments seeing 1-percent increases and others seeing 3-percent increases, overall spending held the lines.

This is because of decreases in liability insurance and lower workers’ compensation costs, said Supervisor Kenneth Runion.
"With an increase of around $200,000, it’s less than a 1-percent increase in spending over last year," Runion told The Enterprise yesterday.

Runion added that the town’s tax rate of 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value has remained the same and that town taxes are relatively the same as last year, including for the town’s highway budget and water and sewer districts.

Resident’s water bills will increase by roughly 1-percent and there is no increase in sewer bills, according to the 2008 budget proposal.

The town’s proposed tax levy of $728,111 is up just over 1 percent from last year’s.
Republican challengers for town board, Warren Redlich and Mark Grimm, who are running against incumbent Democrats Michael Ricard and David Bosworth, have been critical of Runion’s "no tax increase" stance.

They have both pointed out in recent letters to the Enterprise editor that, although the town’s tax rate has not increased, that assessments have increased substantially and that residents are paying more in taxes to the town.

Redlich and Grimm both also say that town board members have given themselves pay hikes since 1999.

Runion responded through The Enterprise, "I can’t really say what happened before 2001"but we have received 3-percent cost-of-living raises which are in line with union contracts."

The current all-Democratic town board took office in 2000 and its first proposed budget was the 2001 budget. The 2008 budget proposal lists Runion’s salary at $98,007 and each town board member at $20,457, which is roughly 3 percent over last year’s salary.

Runion added that spending and taxes are not the same.
"They’re trying to imply that spending translates into taxes, which is not the case," Runion said. "We pre-plan for our spending."
Grimm has repeatedly said he "doesn’t buy it," and has asked voters if they are paying the same taxes they were paying seven years ago.

Runion countered by saying the higher taxes have more to do with county taxes and school taxes than it does with the town taxes.
Redlich said both Bosworth and Ricard have lower-than-average assessments on their homes and has alleged Ricard, in particular, had a "sweetheart deal." Redlich says the town’s high assessments are the cause of high taxes.

The Republicans have cited a 70-percent increase in spending over six years. In the 2005 budget, $13.2 million was slated for capital improvements on the town’s sewer plant and water system.
Runion said that "big-ticket items" such as that, which he said were inherited from a previous administration, threw off the budgets. Grimm and Redlich assert the town simply mismanages its money and continue to question where the money is going each year.
"Those were two major projects that we had to do," Runion said of the 2005 water and sewer upgrades. "I’m not going to sit here and say we didn’t spend it, because we did spend it and it had to be done."

Without the upgrades, Runion said, the town would sustain zero growth. Typically, the town sees an annual growth of $30 million in new development, Runion said, which is sustainable and is needed to bring in additional tax revenue to offset the growth.
"Without proper sewer and water, we would be in essence telling people they couldn’t build in Guilderland," he concluded.
Grimm said that the numbers "don’t add up."
"These hikes [in spending] took place despite a nearly $3 million increase in county sales-tax revenue," Grimm said. Revenues from sales tax in Albany County are distributed to municipalities based on population. More could be done to reduce spending and increase revenues for the town, which would ultimately reduce town taxes, Grimm said.
Runion said that "bare bone" budgets like the one he is proposing this year is typical of his budgets in the past and has nothing to do with election cycles.
"It’s typical"The different department heads are getting used to me now and know there’s not a lot of budget increases," said Runion, who is running unopposed for a fifth term. "They’re so used to my zero-budget-growth policy, that they come in with very little changes in their budgets and ask for only what they need."

Runion concluded that he doesn’t play politics with budgets.

Budget breakdown

Other items in the 2008 proposed budget include:

— A 3-percent salary increase for town justices, who made $42,000 last year, and chief court clerk, who made $40,656 last year;

— A 2-percent overall increase in the supervisor’s office budget from $141,001 to $147,787;

— A 3-percent decrease for the receiver of taxes’ budget from $135,447 to $132,639;

— A 3-percent increase in the assessors’ salary, who made $61,349 last year;

— An overall 2-percent increase in the town clerk’s budget $130,466 to $133,105, which includes the elimination of $1,000 in part-time labor. A digital postage machine is required by federal mandate for the office, which will cost between $8,000 and $13,000. The town clerk’s office generated more than $16,000 last year in processing passports;

— A decrease of 3-percent in the police department for vendor overtime and investigator overtime. There is an 8-percent reduction in the first-sergeant salary because of a new officer taking over the position at a lower pay rate under the current contract. There is an overall decrease of 1 percent from $3,323,973 to $3,276,280, due to retirements and promotions resulting in lowered pay scales;

— A 3-percent overall increase for Animal Services from $105,724 to $110,767;
— A 1-percent decrease in the emergency medical services’ salaries $806,929 to $805,671. The EMS director salary will increase from $52,000 to $56,418, because, according to Runion, "some paramedics are making more than he is." An overall 2-percent increase was budgeted for the Public Safety Department from $1,481,775 to $1,497,212;

— A 2-percent decrease in the fire inspectors’ budget from $225,923 to $218,221, but three laptop computers and software will need to be purchased to create more efficient and additional inspections and will result in more revenue, Runion said;

— A 3-perecent increase for salaries at the town’s transfer station, which has an over-all no budget increase;

— A 1-percent decrease in spending and a 9-percent decrease in personal services for Community Environment Department;

— A zero-percent increase in its $14,650 overall budget for the Economic Development Department;

— A 1-percent increase in Parks and Recreation department from $610,566 to $628,963; and

— A 16-percent decrease in insurance for the town’s Golf Course with 3-percent increases for the ground’s supervisors, mechanics, and operators, with an overall 5-percent decrease in the labor. Runion said that when the bonds for the golf course are paid off in 10 years, the town can expect annual profits of $500,000 or more a year, according to current projections.