Pelham BOT Votes on 8.35% Tax Rate Increase

Pelham’s Board of Trustees reduced the proposed tax rate increase to 8.35 percent for next year’s budget at the April 4 meeting, reducing it from the originally proposed 11.7 percent.

While board members admit that the budget for 2011-2012 is still quite high, they also said that they are committed to restructuring throughout the year. At this point, Pelham doesn’t have a “large financial cushion,” according to trustee Geoff Lewis, but were able to reduce costs by eliminating positions at the police department and cutting seasonal workers from the Department of Public Works.

“These are extremely difficult times for municipal finance across the country and across the state,” said Mayor Ed Hothckiss in a press release. “We regret having to eliminate positions. But given our financial position, we have no choice but to be aggressive on cost and conservative about revenue projections. We will continue to work on costs throughout the year.”

The Village has proposed cutting spending by $315,100 or 3.35 percent from the budget proposal that was released on March 11. The cuts include reductions in Department of Public Works services and replacing only one police car this year, rather than two. In addition to eliminating one current officer, the police department won’t fill two vacant positions and will reduce the number of school crossing guards. The board has also adopted a program of voluntary stipends for elected officials. Other cuts include eliminating DPW seasonal workers, reduction in maintenance budgets and eliminating printing of Village notices.

The fire department will not be hit with layoffs at this point. The department now has 16 members so as to reduce unbudgeted overtime, which exceeded $200,000 in 2010-2011. However, Mayor Hotchkiss said, if the projected savings do not materialize, that slot will also be reviewed.

“The Board and I believe that that this is as far as we can go at this time without fundamentally changing the level of services the Village provides,” Mr. Hotchkiss added. “In the coming year, we will be working with each department to explore structural changes that might afford further savings. Furthermore, we continue to negotiate with the employee unions for concessions, including having all employees contribute to healthcare premiums.”

The Board also took a conservative view on revenue for the coming year.

 “While we have some new sources of revenue, including an additional 57 parking spaces that will come on line this summer, we are not counting heavily on a rebound in revenue from sources such as sales and mortgage taxes and building permits,” Hotchkiss noted. “The economy is still too uncertain to count on those.”

The public hearing for the final budget proposal is scheduled for April 12 at 7:30 pm at Village Hall, 195 Sparks Lane. The vote to approve the budget will take place on April 26.