The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

The Peru Town Board will be presenting its 2011 town budget (Click here for all tax rates and the entire budget) to the public at a Public Hearing scheduled for tomorrow evening (Thursday, November 4^th) at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Hall. The Board will propose tax rate decreases for all the town services. The Town General rate for 2011 is estimated to be $1.92 per $1,000 of assessed valuation down from $1.97 this year. The Town Highway rate is estimated to decline from $2.44 to $2.36. There rates for the water and sewer districts are also expected to experience small declines. Town Supervisor commented, “The Town Board has been making a concerted effort to get costs down especially with this bad economy.” The Water Department does have a major expense. It will utilize a $300,000 Bond Anticipation Note (BAN) to finance the River Road water line replacement project.  Town employee health care costs are estimated to increase by about 12% and contributions to the NYS Retirement Fund are estimated to increase by 17%. Glushko cautioned that other expenses will increase in the future noting that unexpected expenses inevitably arise and most costs increase over time.

Here is a breakdown of preliminary budget revenues and expenses: