2018 Lancaster Tentative Budget

[Neubs24]

WHEN THEIR ALREADY THE HIGHEST PAID IN THE COUNTRY AND ALREADY MAKE OVER DOUBLE OF WHAT THE AVERAGE US OFFICER MAKES.

False

[shortstuff]

Talk about Inexcusable !!!!!!!!! Why are the Police Dept Officers even get raising ????????????? WHEN THEIR ALREADY THE HIGHEST PAID IN THE COUNTRY AND ALREADY MAKE OVER DOUBLE OF WHAT THE AVERAGE US OFFICER MAKES. Everywere else, Police officer's, teachers & governmemt workes are luckly to get a raise once every 10 years, Even in booming cities they pay the average salary, But that's why their booming, growing & have billions & billions of private lnvestments and lots & lots of good jobs and have bright futures because they are well run governments and why Erie County has NO PRIVATE INVESTMENT AND NO JOBS AND IS BLEEDING POPULATION FOR DECADES AND HAS NO FUTURE BECAUSE IT'S WORST DAYS ARE STILL YET TO COME WITH THE SHRINKING TAXBASE & THE SKYROCKETING COSTS OF PROVIDING THE BASIC SERVICES BECAUSE THE TOWN COUNCIL'S ARE BUNCH OF STOOGES WHO HAVE BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE UNIONS AND SPECIAL INTRESTS AND HAVE FAILED THE PEOPLE THEY WERE SUPPOSE TO SERVE.

LOL Jennifer, I completely agree with your opinion here. NYS is a Democratic state, so no surprise there. Democrats believe in big government, higher taxes and faltering infrastructure. The infrastructure is not top priority because they need those redundancy government positions (villages/hamlets & towns) and top benefits. Not in line with the private sector. Unfortunately, we keep singing that tune about unsustainable taxation and yet Democrats keep getting back into office. Until we can get the taxpaying - voters out to vote and change, nothing will change. And forget about those RINO's,

Right after that election here in Lancaster, watch how that budget goes over the tax cap, I'll bet a cup of coffee at Tim Horton's. LOL

[jennifer7]

False

Sound's like your one of the politically connected aka the privileged class with a nice 6 figure government salary & 6 digit Pension with pension spiking with paid medical insurance for life , yearly longevity bonus's that increase every year with seniority and another 6 figure retirement bonus at retirement for unused sick time & vacation in whole 30 year career plus your connected so all your family also have similar jobs, Why would you want to change anything, It's booming for them, but at the cost of a destroyed the local economy and already sucked every penny out every business and they closed or relocated.

[jennifer7]

Sound's like your one of the politically connected aka the privileged class with a nice 6 figure government salary & 6 digit Pension with pension spiking with paid medical insurance for life , yearly longevity bonus's that increase every year with seniority and another 6 figure retirement bonus at retirement for unused sick time & vacation in whole 30 year career plus your connected so all your family also have similar jobs, Why would you want to change anything, It's booming for them, but at the cost of a destroyed the local economy and already sucked every penny out every business and they closed or relocated.

Now there sucking every penny out of the housing market. their like leach's give me, give me,

[Neubs24]

Sound's like your one of the politically connected aka the privileged class with a nice 6 figure government salary & 6 digit Pension with pension spiking with paid medical insurance for life , yearly longevity bonus's that increase every year with seniority and another 6 figure retirement bonus at retirement for unused sick time & vacation in whole 30 year career plus your connected so all your family also have similar jobs, Why would you want to change anything, It's booming for them, but at the cost of a destroyed the local economy and already sucked every penny out every business and they closed or relocated.

I'm telling you they aren't even the highest paid in Erie County, much less the country. That's entirely false.

As for your rant... I am a government employee, but federal. My salary is supplemented significantly by OT, I earn my pension with no spiking (OT gets restricted closer to retirement to prevent spiking) I pay a lot of my own money for my medical, dental and vision, get no bonuses of any kind, can't take my sick time with me at retirement, got my job without any connections and my status as a fed employee confers no benefits to other friends or family members, at least at my agency.

[gorja]

Originally posted by shortstuff:
Right after that election here in Lancaster, watch how that budget goes over the tax cap, I'll bet a cup of coffee at Tim Horton's. LOL

I was hoping that they would amend the budget to include using some unreserve funds to lessen the tax levy as they did last year.

[Lee Chowaniec]

I was hoping that they would amend the budget to include using some unreserve funds to lessen the tax levy as they did last year.

Last year when the board declared there was no money to implement some budget changes who suggested the use more of the healthy fund balance to accomplish that end and to help cut taxes? Why a resident, of course. The unreserved fund balance is even healthier this year and should be used to offset the highest tax rate increase in years.

The Supervisor’s Bee comment was nothing more than political rhetoric attempting to say the town will be doing more for the community than in the past several years which is hyperbole. Many of those projects have been bonded for and have been underway for years.

"This year and over the next several years we are conducting much-needed repairs to our infrastructure. Several waterline projects are under way; repairs are being done to many of the bridges and culverts in the town and both villages. The long-neglected Historical Museum on Clark Street will receive a new roof and portico, the Lancaster Library will receive funding to repair the restrooms, new roofs are planned for the picnic shelters in Westwood and Walden Pond parks, extremely old heavy equipment is being replaced in the Highway and Parks departments, drainage work has been a prime focus this year, and three of the town’s four union contracts have been settled.”


The Supervisor also declared that three out of four union contracts were settled, four town jobs were added and all the town employees contribute a ridiculously low percentage (5-8.5%) to they’re Cadillac health care premiums. Town department heads and employees are happy campers.

In an age of technological advancement where productivity gains are achieved and more is being done with less labor, in a growing town but one where at least 50% of the residential development is for patio homes, townhouses and condos that have Associations and require much less in town services, was a study done to determine the need for any full-time hiring?

[gorja]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
Last year when the board declared there was no money to implement some budget changes who suggested the use more of the healthy fund balance to accomplish that end and to help cut taxes? Why a resident, of course. The unreserved fund balance is even healthier this year and should be used to offset the highest tax rate increase in years.

Lee, you may have to lead them to the water again this year. We'll all hope that they'll drink the water again

[Lee Chowaniec]

I have sat on this Bee post error for two days to see if anyone would pick up on other errors:

The tentative budget totals an estimated $9.7 million, with $7.16 million to be raised by taxation. Compared to the previous year’s adopted budget, that amount is a difference of $296,832. The tax rate would increase by 5 cents, to $2.43 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed valuation.

I had pointed out in a previous post that $9.7 million and $7.16 million numbers pertained to only the Townwide General Fund line item and that there are 8 other funds that make up the General Budget; excluding the Special Districts Fund.

The $296,832 difference between budgets mentioned only considers the General Fund – Townwide; one fund of nine. In total, the difference is $810,332. Adding in Special District Fund increases the budget increased spending by $1.07 million; 3.3%.

And considering the amount to be raised by taxation (tax levy) increased by 4.74%, how the town managed to come in with a budget proposal that meets the tax cap levy indicates the latitude municipalities have to meet that criteria.

After attending a town board meeting and then reading what the Bee choose to feature and how it was presented often led me to wonder if I was in the same meeting room. The data presented was inaccurate and incomplete.

BTW – That 5 cents number makes no sense to me. The bottom line is that Town of Lancaster residents can expect to see their tax bills going up $22.76 per hundred thousand of property assessment; a 2.51% increase should the tentative budget be approved as the final budget.

[Lee Chowaniec]

In a Cheektowaga thread the following was posted:

The Cheektowaga Supervisor noted this in her letter to the tax payers:

Based on these changes noted above, I am submitting a tentative budget that increases the tax levy by 2.91%, well under our New York State mandated tax cap of 4%. The impact on the average town tax bill will be increased by $29.83 to $1,632.70, or tax increase of $1.86%.

The CPI which is the basis for the tax cap levy is 1.99% For Cheektowaga, the tax cap levy of 4% is determined after filling out a tax cap form which today takes into consideration ‘Adjustments and Exclusions’.

The 2017 tax levy (Amount to be Raised by Taxation) was $21,394,138. Had the 1.99% CPI number been the basis for determining allowable tax levy limit, the Amount to be Raised by Taxation (tax levy) would be $21,394,138 + $425,473 = $21,819,611.

But the Amount to be Raised by Taxation in the budget is $22,416,476. The difference is attributable to the allowable tax levy limit after considering adjustments and exclusions – town growth factor (1.0184); PILOTS; available carryover from being under the levy limit in the 2017 budget. The tax cap limit now becomes $22,417,203.

The tax levy for the 2018 tentative budget is $22,416,476; under cap by $727 as the Supervisor claims; but who is reticent in declaring that the town is actually increasing the tax levy by 4.74%.

Saying the town not only met the tax cap limit, but that the budget came in $727 under the cap sounds much more palatable to the taxpayer than implying the tax levy increase met a tax cap limit criteria of 1.99 CPI increase.

But hey, as the ‘growth factor’ indicates, Lancaster is a growing town, has more pockets to pick and is able to lower the tax rate to 2.51%. $45 more in town taxes on an average $200,000 assessed single-family home is reasonable, right? It cost money to correct the developmental mistakes of the past and to keep the unionized town employee a happy camper.

I seriously can’t remember a budget where the tax levy increased by 4.74%. In fact, the tax levy (amount to be raised by taxation) over the last five budgets increased by only $596,471 ($20,797,167 in 2012 to $21,394.138 in 2017).

[gorja]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
puzzling that the Police Chief and the two Captain got 4% and they only contribute a flat $750 per year to their health insurance (valued at $20,000).

It certainly is puzzling that they received a 4.04% raise considering their flat rate health insurance premium contribution ($750.) and they received a 6.12% ( $6,580) increase in 2016.

[gorja]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
As happened last year, less unreserved funds were used to balance the budget than in years past. The same holds true here in that $7.16 million remains in the fund balance after appropriations were made; leaving a reserve percent of 21.43. It is my understanding that a healthy reserve generally is considered one at 13-15% of budget.

From what I've been reading on the State comptroller site, a healthy unreserved fund balance should be at least 2 months of annual total appropriations.

$33,392,261/12=$2,782,688
$2,782,688 x 2=$5,565,377

The current 2018 tentative budget's 2018 Unreserved fund balance is $7,157,506 which is about 2.57 months of total annual appropriations. Last year after appropriating money out of the unreserved fund, the balance of that fund was about 2.35 months of annual appropriations.

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/...p/reserves.htm

[gorja]

The Honorable Supervisor Coleman went to the cupboard
to get her old department a bone
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
As she had given all those bones with benefits away
One to CEO, one to parks, one to police and one to highway
Was there justification for those added positions?
Maybe we'll find out today