By Jim Goldstein, Supervisor
Open Letter to Lebanon Residents and Property Owners:
(Town of Lebanon, NY – Jan. 2016) Due to a Madison County software mistake (courtesy of New York State software) that I was not aware of until I received my tax bill in the mail a few days ago, your tax bill failed to accurately reflect the increases in your fire, ambulance and other special district taxes for 2016. The bill shows a 0.00 percent increase but this was not accurate.
I am sending out this email to alert you as to the actual size of the property tax bill increases since the SOMAC ambulance increase that went from $4,200 to $37,865, was an 800 percent increase from the prior year (divided between Earlville and Hamilton fire contract areas) and was the reason our town could not comply with the tax cap this year. While our town budget and tax levy was down 1.9 percent from last year, the increases in fire and ambulance, most notably SOMAC, are the reason we had to override the tax cap.
The following are the totals for your tax bill which will vary, depending on which fire and ambulance service area you are in:
*Lebanon town taxes – $369,106 in 2015, $362,072, down $7,034 or 1.9 percent – tax bill reflects this.
*Madison County taxes – up 1.9 percent, much better than the last two years when property taxes increased 8 percent each year. Most of the county budget is impacted by unfunded state mandates. Tax bill reflects this. The county, like the town, was forced to override the tax cap due to factors outside of its budgetary control. Gov. Cuomo complains about local government but the unfunded state mandates are the reason for property tax cap overrides locally.
*Eaton fire and ambulance – $9,884 in 2015, $10,082 in 2016, an increase of $198 or two (2) percent.
*Earlville fire and ambulance – $36, 111 in 2015, $60,662 in 2016, an increase of $24,551 or 68 percent .
*Georgetown fire and ambulance – $44,936 in 2015, $45,208 in 2016, an increase of $272 or .6 percent.
*Hamilton fire and ambulance – $16,586 in 2015, $27,373 in 2016, an increase of $10,787 or 65 percent.
*Lebanon hamlet lighting district – $2,400 in 2015, $2,400 in 2016, no increase.
The county Real Property Tax Services division was merged with the County Treasurer’s office late last year at considerable cost savings and they were using state software for the calculations and confirmed that the tax bill did not accurately reflect the fire and ambulance contract increases so I am sending this email out in the interest of ensuring that taxpayers are aware of this and compare last year’s property tax bill to this one and to note, depending on which ambulance and fire contract area they live in, what the source of their tax increases are.
In other related updates the Town Board is looking for town residents and candidates to fill the following positions:
*Planning board members – one regular member and one alternate. We have one candidate for the regular position but are still looking for an alternate to appoint. The term last 5 years. The planning board meets monthly.
*SOMAC representative. We are looking for a town resident who lives in the SOMAC service area to represent the township on the SOMAC board with the understanding that the current position of the SOMAC board (and I hope to change this position) is that this person would be attending all meetings and be privy to all discussions but would not have a vote, as I think our town and all other municipalities represented should have a vote. This representation is also being extended to the town of Hamilton, village of Hamilton and village of Earlville to ensure more municipal representation on the SOMAC board. My position is that all SOMAC meetings should be open to the public – it is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization at present – and the only meetings that are justified as closed are those that require discussion of personnel matters, acquisition of real property, or litigation/legal matter.
*Code Enforcement Officer – Our CEO has given us notice that he does not wish to be reappointed and will stay on until we find a replacement so we are looking for a Code Enforcement Officer who is certified by NYS and experienced in municipal code enforcement. The CEO is not required to be a town resident.
All interested applicants can submit a letter and a resume to Supervisor Jim Goldstein at Lebanon@citlink.net or fax it to (315) 837-4152.
I wish all of you a healthy and happy year in 2016. The Lebanon Town Board will meet for its official organizational meeting and other town business on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Office, 1210 Bradley Brook Road in the hamlet. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.
We met briefly this morning as a town board for a special meeting to adopt several resolutions to allow our new Town Clerk/Tax Collector Joann Collins to be able to conduct business, banking and to co-sign town checks as needed in her official duties. We also re-appointed Steven Jones as Attorney for our Town.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Jim Goldstein, Lebanon Supervisor, (315) 837-4152.