Town Board OKs $3.95M budget; tax levy up 5 percent
The Town Board has adopted a $3.95 million town budget for 2018. The spending plan, approved Monday, is about $250,000, or 6.8 percent, larger than its 2017 counterpart. It increases the town property tax levy by 5 percent, to about $2.4 million.
“What we achieved with this budget, aside from staying under the [state tax] cap, is to address the need to change two departments significantly,” said town Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia.
Town officials are considering eliminating the elected three-member Board of Assessment Review in favor of an appointed assessor, with that department sharing personnel with the town code enforcement officer.
The property tax levy is $2,035 below the state-set maximum for Rhinebeck.
Salaries in the budget include $26,000 for the supervisor, up $6,000, or 30 percent, from 2017; $7,800 for each of the four members of the Town Board, up $2,047 apiece, or 35.6 percent; $48,831 for the town clerk, up $7,178, or 17.2 percent; $56,795 for the highway superintendent, up $1,113, or 2 percent; and $13,160 for each of the two town justices, unchanged.
Spinzia said the raises for Town Board members are the first in 11 years, and she noted the supervisor’s salary was cut from $24,000 to $20,000 in 2008.
The town’s 2018 budget also includes:
• $452,491 for employee benefits, up 3.6 percent.
• $240,000 for road improvements, up 20 percent.
• $221,462 for snow removal, down 7.9 percent.
• $146,969 for Highway Department machinery, up 3.5 percent.
• $100,099 for pool expenses, down 6 percent.
• $70,553 for building expenses, up 4.8 percent.
“What we achieved with this budget, aside from staying under the [state tax] cap, is to address the need to change two departments significantly.” — town Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia