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Letters to the Editor: Cut Spending, Increase Debt or Raise Taxes
January 30, 2011
To the Editor:
I have attended and recorded the two work sessions for the budget. I am glad that the second work session allowed public comment and time for the board to react to it, rather than the previous plan of a public comment session just prior to a vote on the budget. I heard Trustee Gosda’s motion for department heads to submit budgets with five percent and ten percent cuts for the boards review. I was disappointed that Trustee Vatter voted against even looking at budget cuts. Trustees Edsall and Kane were resistant but ultimately voted to review potential budget cuts.
As a village government, we have three choices:
1. Cut spending - I feel there should be a comprehensive review of all spending as a responsibility to the taxpayers of the village. We need to look at alternative ways to deliver the same services in a cost effective way. This would take a great deal of time and effort by the elected members of the village government in coordination with the treasurer.
2. Increase debt - This is a forestalling technique. If the trustees are unwilling to make cuts as the cost of services rise, the trustees can take out bonds, revenue anticipation notes or bond anticipation notes. All of these require interest to be paid on the amount borrowed. If we are paying for services with borrowed money and getting 90 cents on the dollar at some point we will have to make cuts or pay for the debt and interest with tax increases.
3. Raise taxes - The costs of running government are going up. Healthcare for the village has increased by $200,000. Some administrative staff are going to receive a 4% raise. This money must come from taxes.
We as a village have hard choices to make. I have heard at the meetings proposed budget increases of 4%, 7%, and 11% all the way to 23.7% in the original draft budget. Last year most departments submitted budgets with 0% increases. How did taxes go up? Taxes went up due to benefit increases, interest on notes and the fluctuation on resident’s assessments. This led to a 5% tax increase. How can the proposed budget fluctuate so much without cuts? This can happen, for example, by moving debt around from the general fund to the water department, or just paying interest on the debt and rolling over the debt to another year. I was disappointed to find that none of the current majority met with the treasurer prior to the public meetings. The final budget has a 1.01 percent increase in taxes and one million in debt on a three million dollar total.
Andrew Argenio
Cornwall-on-Hudson
(Andrew Argenio is a currently running for trustee in the village election in March.)
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