The Peru Gazette

Posted November 10, 2008 by John T. Ryan

The Peru Town Board conducted a public hearing regarding its 2009 preliminary budget on Thursday, November 6, 2008. While only about a dozen residents attended the hearing, the questions the residents asked elicited a lot of information.

While responding to a series of questions from resident Craig Schmitt, counselors revealed that the town’s 2008 legal expenses through September 26th total $48,680. Counselor Brandy McDonald said his research has indicated that a town Peru’s size typically incurs about $25,000 to $35,000 in annual legal expenses.

The town was billed $19,200 for legal defense expenses related to the lawsuit brought against certain counselors by Supervisor Donald Covel. Insurance paid for $10,000 of that amount; therefore, the cost to the town was $9,200 even though the court ultimately dismissed Covel’s suit.

The board had just learned that the town’s health insurance carrier is asking for a 23% premium increase for next year. The board will consider other carriers. Also, the town’s water tower suffered high wind damage. Repairs will cost about $25,000.

The hearing began with Supervisor Donald Covel stating that the board had worked very hard to keep costs down and to bring in additional revenues for such things as plowing county highways. The general fund tax levy will increase by 2.5% while the general fund tax rate should fall from $2.28 to $2.23 per thousand. Highway department tax rates should fall from $2.74 to $2.67. (To review the budget click here)

During the public input period five residents offered comments. Nancy Long noted the reduced tax rates and modest 2.5% in the general fund tax levy; however, she pointed out increased property assessments saying, “Fifty percent of town properties were reassessed a higher value for the 2009 town taxes. Taxpayers have to understand that their tax bill will not increase by 2.5%. It’s going to be much more than that.” Long said her personal general taxes would increase by 9.14%, highway by 8.43% and water by 14.04% for an average increase of 10.44%.

Vicki Kirby said she was attending her first board meeting. She told the board that more work needs to be done to reduce the budget emphasizing that people are having a very hard time in today’s economic times. She said, “I think things are overwhelming people. I think if you look at the budget you can cut it more. High taxes are driving people out of Peru.” Peter Glushko responded, “Our costs are increasing like yours. We’ve agonized over the budget over many nights. We’ve had a lot of workshops. We’ve cut out a lot. We’re down to about barebones now and we really can’t cut any more. Where can we take it from?” Counselor Tom Powers mentioned some of the cutbacks the board made such as delaying purchase of a highway department vehicle and reducing pavement thickness. He expressed the view that Peru needs to attract more businesses to bolster its tax base and said it was his personal opinion that when Plattsburgh Air Force Base was here counselors discouraged business development preferring that Peru be a bedroom community. Counselor Brandy McDonald noted the board’s recent elimination of a highway department position and cautioned against lowering the tax levy to the point where a big increase might be necessary next year. Kirby listened to the council’s responses, but then she questioned the wisdom of accepting some of the grant money the town has been awarded. Noting that grant-funded projects still usually cost the town money, she closed saying, “I think the people have to stand up and say enough is enough. Let’s cut these grants.”

Resident Anne Schmitt questioned the planned 2.5% cost of living wage increase for all employees. Schmitt said, “I have a real problem with raises. IBM just laid off 250 people. Things are going to get a lot worse.” Schmitt spoke about young people trying to make a living, the elderly trying to survive and asked, “Do you honestly think the private sector is going to give out raises this year?” Schmitt said she didn’t believe that any raises should be given. Counselor Powers said the proposed raises would cost the town about $24,000. Combined with civil service mandated step increases the total increased cost to the town will be approximately $40,000. Schmitt closed her remarks saying, “You’ve got to go back to the well and look at it again.”

Resident Craig Schmitt asked the counselors questions about specific budget line items. While most of his questions were related to the board’s reallocation of certain expenses to a different budget line item a few potential budget errors were discovered. Counselor Powers said he would look into the items. He thanked Schmitt for going into the budget details saying, “Sometimes a fresh set of eyes is great!”

Resident Paul Kirby mentioned budget items such as the library, the youth commission and the walking trail saying, “They may be luxuries where we can save money. These projects come with maintenance costs that go on forever.”

The Board decided to meet on Thursday, November 13 for another budget workshop. They will hold a Special Meeting on Tuesday November 18 to accept the budget.