BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — The town board approved boosting the use of more fund balance money in its 2024 budget to lower the expected tax rate for the coming year.

Council members and the supervisor later voted to approve the 2024 budget at their meeting Nov. 9. A public hearing was held on the budget prior to the meeting.

During discussion Supervisor Ann Carvill told board members that Deputy Supervisor Marty Miller asked if the town could use more fund balance to lessen the expected tax burden on town property owners.

After reviewing the budget, Carvill said it was determined that the town could use up to $300,000 to offset the bottom line expenditures for the budget.

The preliminary 2024 general fund budget was originally calling for $100,000 in fund balance to be used. However, that earlier version of the budget featured a tax rate of 2.06 percent per $1,000 of assessed property value for the general fund. The addition of the $200,000 in fund balance to the general fund drops that rate to 1.72 percent per $1,000, which is closer to the current year’s rate of 1.58 percent.

The new general fund tax rate adds to the total tax rate [which includes tax rates for Town Highway DA and DB budgets, Town Outside and Fire District], increasing total rate for town property owners to 4.55 percent in 2024 versus 4.24 percent in 2023.

What this means in real world dollars is that town property owners paid $424 on a $100,000 assessed property in the current year, but will pay $455 in the coming year to cover the general fund.

The total tax levy for 2024 for the general fund will be $1,009,656.21, compared to the 2023 levy of $875,453.28.

The board briefly discussed adding the additional fund balance at the Nov. 9 meeting.

“The funds are there and I think it’s the right thing to do,” Miller said.

“And once again, we are still being safe, conservative, in balancing out the burden to the public, with looking at assets we have . . . we have ambitious plans for next year with regards to many things that are going on and it’s very important that they be funded,” Carvill said. “And sometimes you are going to get a year where things that maybe slid a little bit are suddenly at the forefront and you have to start doing it.”

“We’re planning for the future to put the township in a much better place,” she said.

In a separate conversation with North Country This Week, Carvill said the town’s 2024 budget includes funding for much needed new software for town offices, a town-wide tax revaluation, and hiring a professional grant writing contractor who can pursue state funding streams more effectively on the town’s behalf.

“That’s just money that has to be spent,” the supervisor told the newspaper.

Carvill went on to praise the town bookkeeper and supervisor’s secretary for their work crafting the budget.

Other funds

As noted earlier in this story, the town’s 2024 fiscal plan includes more than just the general fund. Also included are the Highway DA, Town Outside, Highway DB and Fire Districts budgets; along with the town’s special district budgets — Hewittville Lighting, Sissonville Lighting, and Unionville Water and Sewer Districts.

Of those, the Highway DA tax rate will increase to 1.70 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2024 versus the current year’s rate of 1.67 percent.

The Fire District tax rate will increase as well to 1.13 percent versus the current year rate of 1.07 percent.

Town Outside and Highway DB are covered by other revenues other than taxes, and the tax rates for the special districts are paid by the property owners within those districts.