The Town of Webb Board adopted a 2015 Pre-liminary Budget at a meeting held on Wednesday, October 8th in Old Forge.
The budget is scheduled to go to public hearing on Tuesday, October 28 before being considered for final approval.
General Fund expenditures in the Preliminary Budget are $6,389,931. This is up from the previous year by $131,895.
Total Revenues are projected at $5,189,931.
Unexpended fund balance in the amount of $1,200,000 will be applied to offset taxes.
The amount to be raised by real property taxes in 2015 is $2,897,781—an increase of $126,836 from 2014.
General Fund revenues—less those from property taxes—are expected to drop in 2015 by $5,775.
Those are monies—totaling $2,292,150—are raised by the town from sources such as fines and fees.
Major sources of fees in the Town of Webb are McCauley Mountain, which consistently raises $300,000 per year, according to the budget.
Sales of snowmobile trail permits are expected to generate $625,000.
Sales taxes returned to the Town of Webb are expected to generate another $1 million in revenue.
The Real Property Tax Rate for the Town will be $2.03 per thousand of assessed value. This is up from 2014, when the rate was $1.98.
Highway expenditures for 2015 are $1,173,273 in the Preliminary Budget.
Highway revenues are projected to be $463,700.
Unexpended fund balance will be applied in the amount of $80,000.
The total amount to be raised by taxes to fund Highway in 2015 is $629,573.
Supervisor Ted Riehle, who also serves as the town’s budget director, said he is pleased with the town’s preliminary budget product.
The budget sets aside about $50,000 for a planned roof project for the Park Avenue Building. An additional $100,000 had been allocated but went unspent in 2014.
The town has budgeted $255,000 for a new backhoe and a new loader for the Highway Department.
About $160,000 was budgeted for a new snow trail groomer.
An upgrade will be funded for the fuel management system at the town’s Highway Garage. The amount will be about $6,500 or so, Riehle said.
McCauley will receive funding for a planned snowmaking equipment upgrade. A National Grid incentive will fund about $53,000 of the project. The town’s contribution will be about $90,000.
The new equipment is expected to be installed and operational for the upcoming winter, Riehle said.
“This is an energy efficiency project, so we’re looking at a projected significant savings on electricity,” he said.
Additionally, a new police officer for the Town of Webb, Cody Leubbert, was appointed by the Board on Monday, October 6, pending a background check and full certification that is expected to result from his completion of upcoming Phase Two training and field training with local officers.
The audit of the Town of Webb Police Department that started in July is still ongoing, according to Riehle.
Part of the audit’s cost is being paid out of the Town’s 2014 budget, he said, from both existing funds and some from the budget’s Contingency allowance.
“There is some budgeting in the 2015 budget that is going to help cover the cost of [the audit]. It’s a combination—some coming out of [2014], and some coming out of next year’s budget,” Riehle said.
“We do not have a concrete number for the amount being paid in 2014, but we have budgeted for $50,000 out of [the 2015 budget].”
Overall the 2015 budget stays beneath the tax cap that has been mandated by New York State, Riehle said.
As such, property tax payers in the Town of Webb will be seeing a state rebate check to help offset increases in property taxes, he added.