By JIM AUSTIN
Cooperstown Crier
FLY CREEK — The town of Otsego’s tax levy continues
to shrink.
According to the preliminary budget, the tax levy,
or amount to be raised through property taxes, will
drop from $378,000 this year to $100,000 in the coming
year.
```We beat it down every year since I started,’’ said
Town Supervisor Tom Breiten, who decided earlier not
seek another term in office.
Breiten said the total spending is down to $1.6 million
from a high of $2.1 million in 2007 — the year following
the devastating flood of June 2006 and included
spending to make repairs
to infrastructure. Last
year’s spending package
totaled $2 million.
The supervisor’s tentative
budget called for
$1.39 million, was but revised
upward by the town
council. The council, Breiten
said, added $150,000
for a salt storage building,
increased a contribution
to the equipment reserve
fund in the amount of $25,000, eliminated all
raises for employees except the highway department
personnel who are governed by a contract, increased
construction cost of the new highway building for a
concrete apron, and included a proposed computer
server and network. The extra spending and reductions
netted out to the new budget amount of $1.6 million,
he said.
Breiten said the town’s revenues have remained
relatively steady. Unlike many municipalities, the
town of Otsego has not seen a decline, but an increase
in sales tax revenue. Sales tax has climbed from
$308,000 to $332,000. Breiten attributes the increase
to the recent town-wide re-evaluation of property. The
total assessed value of all property in the town rose by
400 percent to a little more than $1 billion. The total
assessed value is used by the county when it apportions
sales tax revenues to towns and villages.
``We’d been getting
shorted for the last 10
years,’’ Breiten said.
The town’s finances
have also been helped recently
by the reimbursement
it received from the
Federal Emergency Management
Administration
for repairs following the
June 2006 flood. By doing
much of the work in-house,
the town was able to keep
the cost below FEMA’s reimbursement
rates.
By using conservative
revenue projections and liberal
spending estimates,
the town has been able to
meet expenses and put
some money aside.
Breiten said the town
currently has $2 million
dollars in reserves and unexpended
fund balance.
The town will apply
$650,000 of that money to
the budget in the coming
year.
The town is also helped
out by village taxpayers,
who contribute to the townwide
tax fund. The village
accounts for the payment of
50 percent of those funds.
``It’s one of those things
people often don’t understand.
People who live in
the village pay town-wide
taxes, but don’t place the
demand on services the
town provides,’’ he explained.
Breiten said that as supervisor
he has tried to live
by the old adage, ``Watch
your pennies and your dollars
will take care of themselves.’’
