By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Town Council on Wednesday passed a 2016 budget that calls for a 3 percent tax hike.

“There were no objections. The vote was 4-0 (Councilman John) Macaulay wasn’t present,” Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said.

The owner of a $90,000 home inside the village will pay an additional $11.70 per year in taxes on top of last year’s total. Outside the village will pay an extra $12.60, according to Gray. Those numbers are based on 2015 assessments.

“I’m pleased. I thought we had a really good discussion among the board. I thought there was some good give-and-take,” Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said. “Ideally there would be no increase, but that’s not realistic.”

The board decided to give the Massena Rescue Squad funding to bring them up to the $19,500 initially proposed, Gray said.

“I just felt there were some things the volunteers could cover … we had a discussion about it and the Town Council felt differently,” Gray said money was away from them and then given back.

The Business Development Corporation is getting an extra $7,500, to come from casino compact money.

The Massena Senior Citizens will get an extra $1,000.

“It will not have any significant impact on the taxes,” Gray said.

Councilman Samuel Carbone said the extra cash will help the group get “into the electronic age” using computers and away from spending thousands on postage to send mailers to each member.

The town will use compact money to give the village an extra $8,000 toward the local share of a broadband internet project, which will be largely funded through a grant. It will install high-speed internet in the entire Main Street corridor, plus East Orvis Street, the St. Lawrence Centre and Industrial Park.

The town will give an extra $5,000 to the Massena Volunteer Fire Department, which they will use to buy equipment for the volunteers, Gray said.

Gray said they are cutting $5,000 from a line item paying to promote the town as a tourism and fishing destination. The remainder will be paid from compact money.

The board decided to restore the Massena Humane Society to their 2015 level, $53,500.

“$10,000 of that is for animal control,” Carbone said. “It’s mandatory through (state Department of) Ag and Markets that we have dog control and a shelter.”

The town will get an extra $3,000 from Cape Air. The company will pay more on their monthly rental fee for a bigger hangar starting in November.

The incoming town clerk is getting an extra $500 on their salary, which is now at $38,000.

The town will take $15,000 from an ambulance purchase fund and give to the Massena Public Library so they don’t have to use as much fund balance to even their budget, Gray said.

“We should have no trouble replacing it,” he said, adding that they aren’t planning on buying the ambulance during the incoming budget cycle.

The board took $10,950 from fund balance and used it to lower the tax rate, Gray said.

See our earlier story on what the original proposed budget looked like here.