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Taxpayers won’t have to worry about whether or not it’s county tax increase is under the 2 percent tax cap.
On Nov. 16, the Livingston County Board of Supervisors passed a $142,009,399 budget with a .01 percent tax rate increase, keeping rates at a flat $7.68 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
The amount to be raised by taxes is roughly $200,000.
Livingston County administrator Ian Coyle said the reason for the flat rate is due to a combination of performing well year-to-year, having a enough reserve in the fund balance to offset taxes, having a positive return in sales taxes, plus keeping a lean budget that can “withstand all the hits we got from Albany.”
Those hits include cost shifts and unfunded mandates from the state and increases in the New York State Retirement System.
The flat tax rate has also been considered a success since there has been no word on the county’s Home Rule request (to the state) to raise the mortgage tax .25 percent to increase and diversify annual county revenues, or a request for the state to take over the county’s $9.2 million per-year Medicaid costs, which makes up 40 percent of the county’s overall budget.
Medicaid costs increase three percent each year.
The flat rate also keeps staffing level, and allows all services for Livingston County’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to resume, thanks to Intergovernment Transfers (IGT) from the federal government, funneled through the state.
Another achievement is an expected $3 million surplus at the end of this year.
Looking ahead, the county plans to not spend the allocated fund balance; is committed to budget oversight and containment; will press strongly for Home Rule approval; begin mandated/non-mandated review of all programs, and not budget one-time revenues.
Coyle pointed out to the supervisors during the budget’s public hearing presentation that questions will still loom throughout the course of next year on long-term effects of the property tax cap; on whether there will be more cost-shifts and unfunded mandates; whether sales tax collections will continue to improve, and others.
Regardless, Coyle said that overall, the budget is structually balanced and fiscally sound, not reliant on one-term revenues and is “the product of a team effort with important insight and participation by a dedicated team of top-notch department heads and staff.”
Taxpayers won’t have to worry about whether or not it’s county tax increase is under the 2 percent tax cap.
On Nov. 16, the Livingston County Board of Supervisors passed a $142,009,399 budget with a .01 percent tax rate increase, keeping rates at a flat $7.68 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
The amount to be raised by taxes is roughly $200,000.
Livingston County administrator Ian Coyle said the reason for the flat rate is due to a combination of performing well year-to-year, having a enough reserve in the fund balance to offset taxes, having a positive return in sales taxes, plus keeping a lean budget that can “withstand all the hits we got from Albany.”
Those hits include cost shifts and unfunded mandates from the state and increases in the New York State Retirement System.
The flat tax rate has also been considered a success since there has been no word on the county’s Home Rule request (to the state) to raise the mortgage tax .25 percent to increase and diversify annual county revenues, or a request for the state to take over the county’s $9.2 million per-year Medicaid costs, which makes up 40 percent of the county’s overall budget.
Medicaid costs increase three percent each year.
The flat rate also keeps staffing level, and allows all services for Livingston County’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to resume, thanks to Intergovernment Transfers (IGT) from the federal government, funneled through the state.
Another achievement is an expected $3 million surplus at the end of this year.
Looking ahead, the county plans to not spend the allocated fund balance; is committed to budget oversight and containment; will press strongly for Home Rule approval; begin mandated/non-mandated review of all programs, and not budget one-time revenues.
Coyle pointed out to the supervisors during the budget’s public hearing presentation that questions will still loom throughout the course of next year on long-term effects of the property tax cap; on whether there will be more cost-shifts and unfunded mandates; whether sales tax collections will continue to improve, and others.
Regardless, Coyle said that overall, the budget is structually balanced and fiscally sound, not reliant on one-term revenues and is “the product of a team effort with important insight and participation by a dedicated team of top-notch department heads and staff.”
