Clymer town budget projects 5.5% tax increase
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CLYMER -- The Clymer Town Board was presented with a tentative 2027 budget recently with a roughly 5.5% tax increase proposed.
The total budget increase is about $30,840.
Town budget officer, Riley Enlow, presented the budget to the town board, saying that overall the tax levy increase is around 5.5%. She noted that things that increased were due to trends, such as with electricity, and a few salaries for normal employees who are not full time. Health insurance has increased as well, and a capital reserve is planned to be set aside for the ongoing water project.
"It's built into the budget right now under contractual, and then once we set up that reserve by resolution we will move that from contractual into the reserve fund to pay for future equipment and maintenance on the water system," Enlow said. "We hope to do that every year."
The only other noted changes to the budget included machinery in the highway fund, for things such as bonds for purchased trucks. Town Supervisor Brian Willink said some capital reserve funds were used for this budget to help keep things in line. It was noted that the tax cap levy remains at 2%, even with increasing costs everywhere. There are also only so many items that can be used as revenue sources for the town, Willink said, such as sales tax.
"We've been fortunate," Willink said. "The town itself has been very conservative in our budgeting. We have some money set aside for cash reserve purposes and probably will use some of that. It's a budget, so we'll see how things work. It's a conservative budget but it's one I think is cautiously optimistic and realistic."
Willink said different things were considered as they worked on the budget, including rising costs of fuel, electric and salt. Most increases are on mandatory things as well, Willink said, such as health insurance and employee benefits. It is a fairly bare bones budget, he added, that does also include a little extra for things such as the planned dog kennels that will be shared between multiple towns including Clymer. Willink said a little extra for that was included because they do not currently know how everything with that is going to work out.
New items for the water department and system, the new water rates -- which are set to be approved next month -- and a little extra for town board members and the town supervisor were also included, as they have not seen an increase in five years.
The town also passed a local law allowing for them to override the 2% tax cap.
"If we have to change the budget a little bit and we don't actually get over that 2% number, it's fine," Willink said. "This gives us the ability to do that. It's not mandating that we do it, it's just giving us the authority to do it."