Budgets and Bucking Burros

CATSKILL - Sparing we mules of taxation any added burden, the Greene County Legislature is presenting a preliminary 2027 budget, next week, even while keeping a wary eye on future fiscal pastures.

A public hearing on the pecuniary package is scheduled for October 28, at 6:15 p.m. in the Catskill High School Auditorium. Information will be available there and details are posted on the county website. 

Lawmaker and county budget officer Charles Martinez recently gave his annual summation of the proposed spending plan which, for the eighth consecutive year, contains no tax levy increase.

The overall cost of running county government has gone up $13,693,000, a jump of 9.5 percent, a load that would start any pack burro bucking.

But tapping a silo packed with bountiful harvests of sales tax revenue, lawmakers have balanced outgoing and incoming dollars.

That fortunate stocking of fair weather greenbacks, however, is not expected to last forever, in fact, most likely 24 months or less.

Martinez, in his report said, “as we reflect on previous budget messages, it appears that our forecasting for receipts from Sales Taxes has been accurate.

“We can anticipate maximum collection to be attained within two years. By Fiscal Year 2029, we will no longer have the benefit of Sales Tax surpluses to offset traditional budget expenditure increases,” Martinez said.

“Therefore, the planning for future budgets may rely on the use of fund balances and previous years’ surpluses unless other forms of revenue can be realized,” he continued.

“As this would be a new practice in budget formulation, it is not unexpected and our previous budgets recognized these financial trends. We knew we would get here and have been planning accordingly,” Martinez said.

Total budget expenditures are leaping from $144,105,325 to $157,799,174 for a $13,693,000 increase or 9.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the tax levy will stubbornly be staying put at $ 27,404,370, the exact same bottom line since 2020…with a hee-haw hitch.

The $27 million gets spread to individual towns based on their equalization rate, a befuddling State property assessment formula resulting in some towns paying more and some towns less than in the previous cycle.

Figuring it all out is enough to drive any donkey to drink and meanwhile, “a large portion of the increased costs are either out of county control, represent voluntary increases…or, in some cases, are supported by new revenue to the budget,” Martinez said.

“If there is one single change to the budget versus previous years’ budgets, it would be the creation of a new operating fund as recommended by County Administration,” he continued.

“Entitled AF, an abbreviation for “Ambulance Fund,” it will segregate all expenses relative to the County’s support of our ambulance transport and fly car system that previously were allocated to the General Fund.”

Lawmakers are proposing to voluntarily set aside $1,925,042 for expanding ambulance system expenses as part of what is ultimately anticipated to be a shift away from municipally-owned squads to a single county network.

“Our greatest financial challenge will be how to formulate the County’s ambulatory system and how best to work with our towns and villages on

this vital public service,” Martinez said.

There is no choice in the matter of rising Social Services costs, particularly related to the vital SNAP (food stamp) program that will require an added $1,101,000 while the mandated Pension contribution goes up $824,000, legislative budget figures show.

“This past year saw multiple workforce collective bargaining contracts

renewed that provided, in some cases, significant wage increases,” Martinez said.

“The increases were evaluated against market conditions and correlated with employee recruitment and retainage efforts,” he continued.

“The contracts were multiple-year agreements with significant impact in the first year of the agreement versus the outer years.

“The new ambulance operating fund is completely financed via fund balances or idle surpluses,” Martinez said.

“Using such funds will deplete existing investment thresholds and reduce interest earnings in the coming years,” he continued. 

“The complication of this funding matrix is that beyond Fiscal Year 2029 or 2030, new sources of revenue will need to be acquired to accommodate the Ambulance Fund expenditures.

“County Administration recommends evaluation of any of the following mechanisms,” Martinez said.

“The creation of special district taxing authority specifically centered upon ambulatory expenses, the implementation of a Hotel Occupancy Tax, or expansion of the current property tax, or any combination thereof.

“One last increase of note, $500,000.00 was added to the Highway Fund to expand road surface treatments and highway fleet turnover,” Martinez continued.

“Of concern within the Highway budget are expenditures on diesel fuel and road salt, each of which has risen considerably.

“Success in maintaining the [flat] property tax levy is due to understanding all sources of revenue and projecting expenses accurately,” Martinez said.