Lebanon town officials will present a slightly modified proposed 2017 preliminary budget for public comment on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, at 8 p.m. at the Town Office Building, 1210 Bradley Brook Road in the hamlet.
The public is invited and encouraged to attend and offer feedback on the budget.
Town officials increased the budget by about $2,109 after meeting in executive session to discuss requested salary increases with several town officials.
Town officials emerged after an hour-long discussion to take the following action:
— Increased the Town Highway Superintendent salary by $1,500 from $52,737 to $54,237.
— Increased the Tax Collector salary from $2,643 to$2,723.
— Increased the Town Clerk salary from $10,335 to $10,645.
— Increased the Code Enforcement Officer salary from $7,300 to $7,519.
The proposed tax rate for 2017 for the town property taxes will be $4.575 per $1,000, down from the $4.677 tax rate of 2016 by about 2.2 percent. The original budget projected a tax rate reduction of about 2.8 percent.
The town will still need to override the state tax cap via local law due to the overall budget including fire and ambulance contracts causing the town to already exceed the state-imposed tax cap by an additional $5,000. The largest increases were in the SOMAC ambulance, which impacts Hamilton and Earlville fire contract areas, and the Hamilton fire department.
Town officials added $2,109 in additional spending for salary increases by those requesting them. The raises averaged around 3 percent which was consistent with the anticipated 50-cent-per-hour increase anticipated for full-time highway employees that would be considered in January. Madison County just granted its full-time elected officials, department heads, and management and confidential employees a 2 percent increase for 2017, which is also consistent with many union contracts at this time.
Copies of the preliminary budget are available for viewing at the Town Clerk’s office or may be viewed on line by visiting townoflebanon.org.