Town board last week adopts new budget, overrides tax cap Monday after two hearings earlier this month

by Dan McClelland

As announced in October, the town board held a public hearing on the new budget and a new local law to permit it to override the state’s two percent tax cap earlier this month. With just a few public comments about either on November 3, that laid the ground work for adoption of both last Monday night.

At the public hearing Supervisor Rickey Dattola announced the wages for elected town officials in 2026: town supervisor, $14,000; deputy supervisor $2,500,; four council members at $5000 each; 
town clerk, $46,750; town justice, 26,780; highway superintendent, $69,862.

He asked if there were any questions and there were none.

He said that evening the 2026 town budget will increase by 3.85%- noting that 2.1% of the spending increase is due to a large increase in health insurance premiums for staff members and retired town employees expected next year.

The 3.85% increase in the tax levy in 2026 necessitated passage of the tax cap override local law.

“There was nothing, we as a board, could do about the health care increase,” said Supervisor Dattola last week.

He said Town Accountant Sam Davies was hoping during the budget process in recent months the health insurance premium hike wouldn’t be as much as predicted, but as it turns out, it was.

The supervisor said a major project ahead for the town is the repair and reconstruction of Setting Pole Dam on the Raquette River.

He said they were looking at alternative funding sources, including grants, to pay for the project, rather than tapping the 2026 budget.

The town leaders are also hoping grants may pay for the design and engineering work done this year by LaBella Engineering and Design. The firm’s work to date is over $200,000. In the event grants don’t materialize, the town has already arranged for new bonds to finance that piece of the project.

Mr. Dattola said the town consultants, who have been looking for grants for the town for the project, were quite confident it would win one from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, that was specifically for engineering work. “We were happy to hear that!”

Asked by the press when that grant might be awarded to the town the supervisor said the consultants have predicted about the first of the new year.

Final cost figures to fix the town dam are expected from the consultants in February or March.

At the budget hearing there was a chart posted prepared by the town office staff that showed that for a town property owner whose property was assessed at $100,000 in value, the town tax increase would be $16.45 next year. For the owner of a property assessed at $300,000 that owner would see an increase of $49 in their town taxes in 2026.

Turning to the impact on village property owners he noted that the average assessment in the village is $80,267. 
The average assessment of property situated in the town is about $206,000.

“They broke it down by spending by the town. If you have house assessed at $100,000 your town tax is going to be $473.30.

“Some people have asked about the cost of the town operating its recreation department. The pie-charts on the wall that evening showed that basically on a $100,000 home the recreation department’s operational expenses cost that property owner nothing.

He said most of the recreation department’s revenues comes from registration fees of participants, sponsor fees, donations, etc.. 


Mr. Dattola said the only cost to the town for its recreation department are payroll expenses and they represent about $16.57 of the tax bill of $473.30.

Village taxpayers will be paying slightly more in town taxes because of the services the town has taken over from the village this year, he noted. “So the village will see a little bump!”

He encouraged taxpayers to visit the town’s web site, where all the graphs and pie charts are shown to explain what areas of town spending are increasing and by how much. Employee benefits like health care, retirement and social security represent represent one-quarter of the entire budget, he lamented, noting that healthcare costs increases are particularly troubling.

Superintendent of Schools Jaycee Welsh was at the hearing on November 3 and asked the supervisor if there was a state cap on any fund balance accumulations, and was told he wasn’t aware of any cap, limiting fund balance size.

The public hearing on overriding the state tax cap prompted a brief discussion that evening, before it was closed.

Supervisor Dattola explained that had health insurance premiums next year not jumped by 12%, but by 6% or 7% instead, the board and its accountant could have likely got the tax levy under the two percent state tax cap.

The budget adopted for 2026 by the town board last Monday shows total town spending next year to be $3.559 million. Balanced against that proposed spending is $894,630 in anticipated revenues, $264,180 in unspent sums this year and $120,388 placed in reserve accounts to get to $2.280 million for the 2026 tax levy.

Spending in the town’s general fund of $1.76 million will be reduced by $526,736 in revenues and $174,180 in carry over funds for a tax levy piece of $1.059 million.

Total town spending next year will increase by about six percent. The town tax rate paid by village property owners will increase to $3.43 per $1,000 assessed valuation-up from $3.21 per $1,000 this year. The tax rate paid by town property owners will increase from $4.57 per $1,000 this year to $4.73 per $1,000.

Next year the owner of a property in the township assessed at $100,000 will pay $473 in town taxes- $16.45 than this year.

The owner of a property owner in the village assessed at $100,000 will pay $342.69 in town taxes in 2026- $21.19 more than they did this year.

Next year the owner of a property in the town assessed at $300,000 will pay $1,419.75 in town taxes- an increase of $45.36 over this year.

The owner of a property in the village assessed at $300,000 will be billed for $1,028.06 in January. That’s $63.56 larger than the sum they saw on their 2025 town tax bill they received last January