SARANAC LAKE — Harrietstown City Council members have proposed a preliminary budget of nearly $6.9 million for 2025 and will hold a public hearing on the spending and taxation plan at its board meeting THURSDAY.

As it stands, the preliminary budget falls well below the state-mandated tax cap, increases funding for several city initiatives and includes proposed raises for the city supervisor and council members.

A public hearing will be held at 5:15 p.m. on November 7 in the city’s board room on the first floor. It will also be streamed on Zoom at tinyurl.com/whuh8bhy using meeting ID 869 3597 6286 and passcode 304349.

The city is proposing a budget of $6,895,744, an increase of $164,630 or 2.45 percent from last year’s budget of $6.7 million.

The preliminary budget was approved 4-1 last week, with Councilman Johnny Williams choosing “No” vote.

On Friday, he said he voted no because he felt the supervisor’s salary lacked clarity going forward.

He said he doesn’t oppose City Supervisor Jordanna Mallach’s salary increase because she has worked extensively for the city. But his concern was whether that position should be permanently paid more, even if future supervisors don’t do the same work.

Williams said he asked for it to be a temporary increase, but it didn’t happen.

He said he would have felt different if it was a merit-based raise for Mallach rather than a position-based raise.

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What’s in the budget?

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Mallach said the amount the city pays the village for fire protection has increased “significantly” after the village establishes a change in the towns’ contribution to the equipment reserve.

The city invested additional funds in professional services for the airport to address a PFAS contamination problem.

It has also invested additional funds in its assessment department as they work to update their tax equalization rate from 73% to 100% through the reassessment of all properties in the city, and the money in city laws to make the online zoning code available in a searchable format.

Like last year, additional funds are also planned for upgrades to city hall and the municipal park on John Munn Road.

The budget proposal includes a $2.8 million tax levy to fund city operations in the coming year. This levy is $85,310 more than last year, an increase of 3.1%.

The state-mandated tax cap, which limits the extent to which the town can increase its draw from taxpayers from year to year, is set at $2,851,531 for Harrietstown this year, an allowable increase of 3.6 %. The proposed tax levy is $14,682 below the cap.

Mallach said the board may consider other additions to the budget after the public hearing, which could bring the tax levy closer to the cap.

“Now that department heads have gone through the budget planning process with me and the budget manager multiple times, I believe we are able to project spending more accurately. » Mallach wrote in an email. “Additionally, I continue to work to keep expenses low and provide grants to cover project costs and reduce the burden on taxpayers.”

With this preliminary tax levy, the tax rate for someone living in the city – as well as the Village of Saranac Lake – would be $2.01 per $1,000 of assessed value, not including taxes for additional districts water or sewer. This is an increase of 1 cent.

With this preliminary tax levy, the tax rate for someone living in the town, outside the village, would be $3.66 per $1,000 of assessed home value, not including taxes for additional water or sewer districts. This is an increase of 10 cents.

For someone with a home valued at $300,000 in the city and town, that would represent a base tax rate of $603, or $4.38 more than last year.

For someone with a home valued at $300,000 in the city outside the village, that would mean a base tax rate of $1,098, or $31 more than last year.

The city projects revenue of $3.44 million, less than the $3.45 million in revenue expected for the current year.

To supplement the tax levy and other revenue, the city is proposing to withdraw $623,600 from its reserves for 2025. The city withdrew $528,600 from its reserves for this year’s budget.

The city has about $1.2 million in its general fund balances, with about $745,000 in other reserves for things like water, sewer, highways, fire protection and special grants.

The city-owned airport has nearly $1.9 million in its unrestricted fund balance and about $276,000 in its restricted fund balance.

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Increases for elected officials

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The preliminary budget includes an $11,669 increase for the town supervisor and a $211 increase for town council members.

The supervisor position is currently $20,831 per year. The proposed salary would be $32,500, an increase of 56%.

The raises for all four council members would increase their annual salaries from $7,022 each to $7,233 each. This represents a cumulative total of $844 more than last year.

For the past two years, Mallach had requested an additional $20,000 in salary, but neither raise was finalized.

Mallach said the supervisor is responsible for the town’s 25 employees, the $6.9 million budget and — unique to Harrietstown — the airport.

“The investment in this position is important to the continued progress of our community” Mallach wrote in an email. “I believe in representative government and I want to make sure that beyond my time or term as supervisor, any candidate who wants to run for this position can afford to do so.”

In previous years, Mallach said she asked for the increase because she said she was dedicating full-time hours to the city and saving taxpayers a lot of money. A fairly large contingent of taxpayers and board members who felt that the supervisor’s job did not need to be a full-time job, and therefore did not need to be paid full-time, expressed their opposition.

The debate boiled down to whether the supervisor position was a full-time job or not. The board was divided at the time, even though everyone said Mallach worked hard.

The first year, some did not want the salary to be permanent.

In the second year, the increase would have been one-time for additional work at the city-owned airport.

After the public hearing and possible budget adjustments at Thursday’s meeting, the board could vote on whether to adopt the budget.

If they don’t do so that evening, they will need to schedule a special meeting for the vote, since the deadline to pass the budget is Nov. 20 and the next regular board meeting is Nov. 21.