By CRAIG FREILICH CANTON – No one showed up to complain at the Village of Canton budget hearing last night, and at the close of the hearing the Board of Trustees adopted their budget of almost $6 …
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By CRAIG FREILICH
CANTON – No one showed up to complain at the Village of Canton budget hearing last night, and at the close of the hearing the Board of Trustees adopted their budget of almost $6 million for 2016-2017.
The budget lowered the tax rate slightly, by five cents, to $10.16 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.
“When you’re not raising taxes people will hear it on the street , so no one came to complain,” said Mayor Mike Dalton.
The tax levy is going up slightly – by one-tenth of one percent – so there are no tax cap issues.
“We’ll be keeping a very close eye on income versus expenses for the next six months to make sure we attain our goals” and minimize the chance of surprises, Dalton said.
The total budget of $5,965,822 is broken down into $3,262,687 for general fund, $1,060,130 for the water fund, and $1,1717,902 for the sewer fund.
Total value of all property in the village is assessed at $317,696,816, of which almost two-thirds -- 66.32 percent -- is exempt from property taxes, Dalton said.
“It was a good year for us,” Dalton said, making it possible to plan purchases of equipment. “We had held off on several things,” including some wastewater treatment equipment and items like a backhoe, Dalton said.
“Frankly, we’ve focused for the last couple of years on paying down debt, so we’re able to make some investment in the future,” he said.
The board also will be seeking bids on the replacement of windows and doors on the Municipal Building on Main Street.
Dalton said the work will be done with help from a grant secured by “our state senator,” Patty Ritchie, R-Heuvelton.
The mayor said he expects the work will be underway within the next two months.