By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Mayor Tim Currier on Tuesday presented a $15.8 million budget that calls for a 2.95 percent in the tax levy and an approximate $300,000 increase in general fund spending.

General fund expenses $9.5 million, are higher than revenue by about $500,000.

Under his proposed plan, the tax rate would be $16.09 per $1,000 of assessed value. That would have the owner of a $50,000 property paying $804.50 in taxes and the owner of a $100,000 property charged $1,609.

Currier is looking at using $681,000 in fund balance.

He said he wants to not only use the fund balance as “rainy day fund” but also “for putting away money for specific projects we have planned.”

“We took a significant hit on healthcare, that’s why that fund balance is so big this year,” Currier told the board and several attendees at a Tuesday budget presentation.

He said they have about $2,000,000 in unassigned fund balance, which he said is up from about a half million when he took office.

Currier said to get to a zero percent tax increase, the board will have to make further cuts.“To get to a zero percent tax levy increase, trustees will have to cut $164,516. To get to the tax cap … we’ll have to cut $191,500,” he said.

He noted that 76 percent of his budget proposal is on salaries and benefits.

“We require people to provide those services … employees cost money,” the mayor said.

Their taxable property value has been on the decline, which is now at about $329,100,000. That’s roughly a $6.5 million decline since 2014.

The initial department proposals would have brought a 24 percent tax levy increase, which Currier drastically reduced with his proposal.