Village lowers 2021-22 budget by $2,600

MILLERTON — Taking the next step in the budget development process, the Village Board held the required public hearing for the 2021-22 village budget at the start of its workshop meeting on Monday, April 5.

Live streamed to the “Village of Millerton VOM” Facebook page at 6 p.m., the entire board attended; the public hearing opened five minutes later.

As there were no questions from the board, Village Clerk and Treasurer Kelly Kilmer presented the tentative budget, and said after taking questions from the public, the board would have to adjust the budget as needed.

One of the adjustments needed would involve lowering the amount of taxes that the village will collect in the next fiscal year by $2,600, said Kilmer. After doing so, the new total for the amount to be raised in taxes amounted to $419,728. 

Millerton’s tax rate for the 2021-22 budget comes to at $4.66 per $1,000; for 2021-22 the tax rate is $5.52 per $1,000, an increase of $0.14 per $1,000.

Kilmer also directed the trustees to the budget’s revenue line for public safety and traffic costs. This area, she explained, is normally where the village’s DWI contract with Dutchess County is listed, for which the board had budgeted $2,275. Though the board had initially anticipated that the contract amount would be the same in the upcoming budget, Kilmer said the amount had gone down significantly, so the village’s DWI contract with the county will be $1,100. 

When she called the county to ask why, she was informed that the county’s DWI program is “totally funded” on the revenue that is brought in because of DWIs, which then gets divided among the municipalities that are a part of the DWI contract. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kilmer was told there was a lot less revenue that came in this year, which explains why Millerton’s contract will also be a lot less this year.

Village Trustee Matthew Hartzog asked for confirmation as to whether the board was able to give a very small pay raise to a number of village employees in the 2021-22 budget. Kilmer affirmed it was and that all of the village employees will be getting a pay raise. She also confirmed that Mayor Debbie Middlebrook and the village trustees opted not to give themselves raises in the next year, but instead to give the pay hikes to other village employees.

While there were no questions from the Village Board members or from the members of the public, the trustees decided to keep the public hearing open to give the community a chance to come forward with any concerns or comments. As they waited, the board and Kilmer addressed other matters pertaining to the village of Millerton.

The board checked if any questions were submitted before closing the hearing; Kilmer asked it not to vote on the budget that evening so she could change the items she mentioned earlier and bring the budget back to be voted on at the April 19 meeting. Agreeing to the good idea, the board officially closed the public hearing at 6:42 p.m.