GUILDERLAND — At $47.8 million, Guilderland’s first pass at a budget for 2026 is up 4.4 percent from this year’s modified spending plan.

The town-wide tax, combining town and highway taxes, would increase from about $1.38 per $1,000 of assessed value to $1.40 per $1,000, up about 1.9 percent.

The total property tax levy — including the town’s general; highway; sewer; water; lighting; and two of nine fire district funds, which the draft notes have yet to finalize budgets for next year — would increase 2.68 percent, from $13.95 million to $14.3 million;

Town taxes account for roughly 12 percent of a home’s total property tax — the lion’s share is for school taxes — and property owners, depending on where their land is located, can often have four or five other line items on their annual town bill, taxes associated with living in one or more Guilderland’s benefit districts like those for fire, ambulance, emergency medical services, water, light, and sewer.

Though the cost of running the systems is largely borne by the residents receiving the services, the town includes as part of its total annual spending plan Guilderland’s water and sewer budgets, which total about $11.64 million; customer revenue is expected to be about $8.2 million, leaving a gap of $3.44 million.

The budget from sewer-district operation and maintenance is expected to increase about 8 percent, from about $4.5 million to $4.9 million. The town’s property tax rate for sewer district operation and maintenance would increase by 7.25 percent next year, from about $95.6 per $1,000 of assessed value to $102.5 per $1,ooo.

The Guilderland water district appropriation would increase from $5.7 million to $5.9 million, up 3 percent; its tax rate would drop 4.8 percent, from about 74 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to 70 cents per $1,000.

Revenue

Some of Guilderland’s largest sources of revenue for next year are expected to be: 

— About $16.9 million in sales tax from Albany County, up from $15.6 million;

— The town-wide general fund A Fund levy, about $5.8 million;

— Real property taxes for sewer operation and maintenance and debt service, about $5.4 million;

— Sales and the levy of property taxes for water, approximately $5.4 million;

— Total non-sewer and non-water departmental income of about $5.3 million, an expected 3.3 percent increase over this year;

— About $1.65 million from New York state, a drop of 27.5 percent; and 

—$1.2 million from the federal government for section 8 housing.

One relatively new source of revenue is the town’s tax take from the sale of marijuana, expected to be $280,000.

Expenditures

On the spending front, some of the town’s largest layouts are expected to be:

— Total public safety costs, largely driven by the police department’s $6 million budget, would increase from $7.4 million to $7.8 million, a roughly 5-percent increase;

— Costs associated with current and former employee benefits: retirement payments associated with each town fund would go from about $4.5 million to approximately $5.1 million, up 14 percent, while health-insurance appropriations would increase about 10 percent, from about $3.1 million to $3.4 million; 

— Total highway fund spending, would increase from $5.3 million to $5.64 million, up 5.65 percent; and 

— Guilderland’s emergency medical services, a decrease of 4.25 percent from $4.5 million to $4.3 million. 

The salaries for the town’s full-time elected officials are increasing next year, from about $137,000 to $141,000 for the supervisor; from about $86,200 to $88,750 for the town clerk; and from $113,600 to about $117,000 for the highway superintendent.

In part-time posts, the salaries of the town’s three judges would each increase from about $62,000 to approximately $64,000, while salaries for each of the four town board members would increase from $29,300 to about $30,200.