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Budget ready for Wednesday’s village appropriations meeting

By Colin DeVries

CATSKILL — The proposed budget for the village of Catskill has been put on the table and it’s time for the residents to decide what makes the cut.

The $3,983,797 general fund proposed for the 2008-09 budget is a $350,319 increase from the previous year, including increases in funding for park improvements, Village Hall upgrades, a new police car and a retirement plan for firefighters, to name a few.

“The village of Catskill is very unique,” said Village President Vincent Seeley at the Village Finances 101 session held recently. “You, the taxpayer, on the day of appropriations can actually vote up or down these line items.”

That essentially means the taxpayers will decide if the budget becomes finalized.

At 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Washington Irving Senior Center on Thompson Street, the annual appropriations meeting will take place to decide what stays and what goes.

The tax rate for the 2008-09 budget increased from $19.98, per $1,000 of assessed value, to the proposed $20.18 — a one percent increase.

Seeley said that without the revenue generated from Catskill Commons and other projects which were included in the 2008-09 budget for the first time, the tax rate increase could have potentially been close to 10 percent.

“This village runs unbelievably thin,” said Seeley. “We tax people to get the lights on, to keep gas in cars. We don’t really do a lot of projects — we only do the projects we have to do.”

Total taxable property assessments for the village are $159,008,544, up $18,094,942 from the previous year.

Trustees’ salaries are proposed to increase to $5,000 from $4,600, and village justices’ salaries will remain at $12,097.

The water and sewer funds will also go up this year, with water increasing $1,500 to $1,076,000 and sewer raising $25,000 to $655,000. A tiered water and sewer rate hike was implemented last month.

Taxpayers are encouraged to attend the appropriations meeting to provide feedback on each line item and to take part in the unique process of a chartered village appropriations meeting.

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