TUPPER LAKE — The village government is in the midst of preparing its upcoming budget, with a tentative draft released on March 30 and a public hearing for a related local law to override the tax cap set for 5 p.m. Monday at the village offices.
As it currently stands, the tentative version carries an eye-opening 8.78% increase in the tax levy from last year’s budget. It would be the biggest annual tax increase in at least 15 years and well above the tax cap.
But this is almost certainly higher than the final budget that the village will consider approving, according to Mayor Mary Fontana. She said in Tupper Lake’s case, the tentative budget essentially constitutes a “wish list” and worst case scenario in terms of cost increases that the village will be able to trim back from.
“I’m confident it’s coming down,” she said. “The tentative is just where we take last year’s numbers and then we add all of the known (cost increases) to it — what our insurance increases are going to be, what our contractual expenses are increasing by — and then we put our wish list together of things that our department heads really want, including additional vehicles, additional manpower. And then we start the trimming process.”
Still, though, Fontana said village taxpayers should expect to pay more taxes when all is said and done with this upcoming budget — unlike fiscal year 2025-26 that saw the village cut taxes by a hair with the rate per thousand dollars of assessed property dropping by about 0.13%. Fontana said that was possible through consolidating some services, but now that that’s taken effect with the low-hanging fruit, she said the village wasn’t in a similar position this year.
“We are going to see an increase in taxes this year, which I think is inevitable,” Fontana said. “You look at communities across the North Country, and everyone is raising taxes. The bulk of that increase is for things well outside of our control.”
The mayor said it was too early to throw out an estimated tax increase, adding that she wanted to get through budget workshop meetings with department heads before doing so, but that the final figure will likely be over the state’s allowable property tax cap. The village can vote to override this, but must pass a local law to do so with 60% of the village board’s vote — which, with its five members, is indifferent from a simple majority.
Besides the 60% board majority, passing that local law requires a public hearing. Hence Monday’s meeting, which the village board will similarly help to further explain where the current budget planning stands before kicking off budget workshops with the police and fire departments that night.
Workshops with the DPW and water departments are set for 2 p.m. on Tuesday and there’s a calendar hold for 2 p.m. Wednesday in case any additional meeting time is necessary. These are all open to the public. Fontana said the midday times are scheduled to be respectful of and logistically accommodating to department heads by meeting during their regular work shifts.
The current plan is to have a more “realistic” understanding of the budget by Thursday, Fontana said, after these workshops conclude and ahead of the village board’s regular April 20 meeting. There, it is slated to consider both passing the local law overriding the tax cap and the budget itself, though this is not set in stone.
“If the public comes back and they want to see additional changes, we’ll have a special meeting to adopt our budget by the end of the month,” Fontana said.
Though New York routinely ignores its own April 1 deadline for the state budget, it requires municipalities with a June 1 fiscal year — what the village of Tupper Lake has — to adopt their budgets by May 1, which Fontana said the village will meet.
Under the tentative nearly $3.2 million budget, the tax rate would be about $17.08 per $1,000 of assessed value. Someone who owns property assessed at $300,000 would pay $5,124 in village taxes. This is an 8.36%, or $396 increase from last year’s $15.76 per $1,000 of assessed value — under which someone who owns property assessed at $300,000 would have paid $4,728.
Village budgets between the 2012-13 and 2025-26 fiscal years have increased at an average tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value of 1.91%, ranging from a 5.36% increase in 2024 to a 5.03% decrease in 2023 — one of three budgets during that timeframe where the tax rate was lowered.
“We are looking at opportunities for consolidation and we are looking at areas where we could decrease,” Fontana said. “But I am going to deliver a responsible budget this year and we will be accounting for those equipment repairs and those overtime expenses that we have seen impact us these last five years. We have underbudgeted equipment repairs, equipment replacement, infrastructure work. We really need to be cognizant of that. We are not in a position where we have an abundance of unappropriated fund balance that we can draw from when we go tens of thousands of dollars past our lines.”
Fontana said that a lot of the cost increases, such as insurance and contractual obligations, are out of the village board’s control. But in terms of what is, she said the village — though borne out of an understandable desire to keep tax increases minimal — has “for many years” chronically under budgeted for equipment repairs and replacement funds.
“Our general fund departments have consistently gone over budget on equipment repairs,” she said. “Whether it’s infrastructure or equipment, a lot of it ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ If things are running smoothly, you kind of put it on the backburner. … We have a police department that needs to be staffed and some qualified candidates in the pipeline. We’ve got a police car that needs to be replaced. We have a fire truck that needs to be replaced, and other pieces of equipment that need significant repairs.”
While committed to increasing this funding, Fontana said that village department heads have to be fiscally proactive and attentive throughout the year, adding that she’d like them meeting with the village treasurer on a quarterly basis to review their cash standings and take stock of possible repairs or other significant expenditures before they happen.
“We’re going to hold our department heads responsible for bringing forth their department budgets and really holding them to those figures,” she said. “That’s the role that we took on for elected office — and the position of authority that our department heads (occupy). They’re appointed and they’re appointed for a reason. It’s not just to manage their crews, it’s also to manage the taxpayer dollars that we collect.”
To view the tentative and past years’ village budgets, visit tinyurl.com/3bt7z82p.