More than a month ago Batavia City Council was given a $33.5 million budget proposal that included a $6.6 million tax levy, a required tax cap override and built-in budget sessions to see where cuts could potentially be made.
Five weeks later, the group voted to put the same 2023-24 budget and tax cap override on the calendar for public hearings that begin at 7 p.m. on Feb. 27 in Council Chambers at City Hall. Throughout the budget workshops, no council member suggested amendments to make cuts to the proposed $33.5 million financial plan.
One public hearing will be to establish a local law authorizing the city to override the state-mandated tax cap to collect more than the set limit of real property taxes. This law would need a vote of at least 60 percent of City Council to pass. It would then take effect immediately upon filing with the secretary of state.
The second public hearing is more directly related to the budget, naming the amount to be levied of $6.6 million. If passed by council, it will take effect on April 1.
As City Manager Rachael Tabelski explained in January, the tax cap is an “arbitrary formula given out by the state.” And with expanded roles of a full-time recycling officer and full-time ordinance officer, increased health care, retirement, utility, and other costs she believes are essentials, it was either overriding that tax cap or making “significant” cuts, she said.
“I would say this is this year's request,” she said. “The city would do everything in its power to maintain under the tax cap in the future.”
City Council, in its unanimous vote, agreed. Members Bob Bialkowski, John Canale, Eugene Jankowski Jr., Paul Viele, Al McGinnis, Kathy Briggs, and Tammy Schmidt have also agreed to a cumulative 8 percent raise over three years in a negotiated contract with the city police, though Bialkowski has raised a couple of questions about salaries and an extra day off.
This next year's budget also includes a water and meter rate increase of 30 cents more per 1,000 gallons. That increase is to begin April 1, and will tack on about $60 more per year to the bill of an average family of four, Tabelski said.
The property tax rate would remain flat at $8.94 per $1,000 assessed value, although most assessments were raised over the past two years in the city, for an overall higher tax bill. For example, if a home is assessed at $90,000, and it is now assessed at $100,000, the flat tax rate times the higher assessment will cost the homeowner an additional $89.40 per year.
