The Scarsdale Village Budget - What's In and What's Out

The Scarsdale community tends to focus the lions’ share of their attention on the school budget, which accounts for about 65% of resident’s local tax bill, with the county taking another 18%, followed by the Village with 17%.  Even though the Village portion is the smallest, your Village taxes pay for many of the services that define life in Scarsdale.  Out of this portion comes funds for the roads, snow plowing and pothole repairs, recreation including the pool, day camp, tennis/paddle courts and fireworks, the library and even the community gardens you find around town.

For 2012-13, the Village expense budget is projected to be $48.5 million with projected revenues of $47.1 million.  The revenues are derived primarily from real estate taxes that account for $32 million of the total. Other revenue line items include sales tax, recreation and camp fees, licenses and permits such as building permits, and fines and forfeitures at $879,000 (feed the meter or you’ll be contributing to this revenue stream!).  Another big item is mortgage taxes which account for $1.4 million in revenues.

On the expense side, $7.3 million is spent on the Public Works Department, for sanitation, roadwork, snowplowing, leaf pick-up and landscaping with $6.2 million for the police force and another $5.4 million for the Fire Department.  The Village’s employee pension payment accounts for $4.3 million with health and other benefits adding up to another $8.3 million.  Another big piece is the library at $3.45 million.

Despite growing state mandated expenses, Village Manager Al Gatta has proposed a budget for 2012-13 that actually falls within the 2% property tax levy cap. There is a projected budget gap of $1,392,614, the difference between projected revenues and expenses - which would require a 4.435% tax rate increase.  But New York State has allowed exemptions from the tax levy cap for certain projected expenses such as $303,000 in pension expenditures (.965% on the tax rate) and $255,609 in the loss in the assessed value of Scarsdale real estate, (.814% on the tax rate). With these exemptions the tax rate increase comes down to 2.044%.  This 4.435% increase would translate to an annual increase of $239 for the average Scarsdale household.

However, it is important to note that this budget does not include funds for the tax revaluation project, estimated at $1 million, nor funds to alleviate flooding in the Sheldrake River area in Murray Hill/Middle Heathcote. The current budget does include $1 million for road repairs, which is in line with prior year’s appropriations.

So – the good news is that Village expenditures are under control. However, if you were hoping to see the revaluation go through, or to have the Sheldrake River flooding addressed, you may want to make your thoughts known. Consider sending a letter or an email to Village Hall or attending a public briefing session on the Village budget on Thursday February 23 at 6:30 pm at Scarsdale Village Hall.