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Village of Lansing taxpayers can look forward to a four cent drop in their next tax bill instead of a two cent rise proposed last month.  Mayor Donald Hartill says the change is due to a misunderstanding of what the New York State 2% tax cap law requires.  The budget proposed last month did raise the tax rate 2%, but the law actually caps the tax levy, the amount of the budget collected in local taxes.

"The plan is to satisfy the 2% cap," Hartill said at a public budget hearing Monday.  "We debated whether to pass a local law overriding the tax cap, which I don't have any particular taste for.  There is no need to."

This fiscal year's tax rate was 99 cents.  Last month Hartill proposed raising it to $1.01.  But when tax bills arrive in villagers' mailboxes later this year the tax rate will actually be 95 cents. 

We had an increase in our assessment by a little over 5% because of BJ's and other construction.  That took us up to a 7% increase in the levy.  Not only that but we realized we had improperly filed last year (because sewer levy must be included in the 2% calculation).

Village officials say that the difference in income they will collect is $28,000.  Hartill says that amount of reduced revenue will not impact planned village activities for the coming year.

"The plan for the budget is to keep our total costs in control," he said.  "We think we've done this in the overall budget.  The amount of money is within the 'noise of our system'.  We anticipate having adequate funding for our new building.  We have adequate capital reserves to cover any changes."


Hartill anticipates building a new Village Hall this year, for which the Village is currently waiting for bids to come in.  About two miles of roadway will be resurfaced, as well as what Hartill calls preventative maintenance on Triphammer Road.  The Village also anticipates purchasing a front end loader this year to help manage its winter road salt supply and other tasks.  Other expenditures include a 4% rise in salaries for all employees but one, who will receive a 5% increase.

The water rate in the Village has gone up to $4 from $2.15.  Most of that is a rise imposed by Bolton Point, which Hartill says was caused by a low water rate over several years that did not account for the cost of future projects such as the main water tank project east of Burdick Hill Road.  All water is pumped to that tank from Bolton Point, and then distributed to tanks and other parts of the system around the Village of Lansing and Cayuga Heights, and The Towns of Dryden, Ithaca, and Lansing.

In addition the Village plans to bore underneath Route 13 this year to replace an aging water main.  Hartill says the budget reflects the whole cost of the project, but because Bolton Point also has to run a pipe under the roadway the Village will save money by haring the cost with the water commission.

Three budget lines in the proposed budget were changed monday, including a transfer from the capital reserve.  The Board of Trustees voted to make the changes and then officially adopted the budget.

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