Town’s 2019 budget takes $16M hit on Albany tax assessments

COEYMANS — The Coeymans Town Council last Thursday held a public hearing on the preliminary town budget for 2019.

The $3,019,196 budget will raise $1,675,092 through taxes, with $1,344,104 expected to be generated through revenue.

Tax revenue coming into the town was unexpectedly decreased for 2019 following multiple Article 7 proceedings that were filed against the town by the City of Albany and the Albany Water Board.

Those court proceedings ended up reducing the town’s assessed property value by $16 million.

While the town’s budget for next year is still within the state mandated tax cap, the numbers are not where town officials hoped they would be.

“We are within the state tax cap. We were hoping to keep it under, but couldn’t because of Article 7s, which are court hearings on tax assessments that were initiated by the city of Albany,” Town Supervisor Philip Crandall said.

The reduced valuation of properties within the town of Coeymans means less money going into the town’s coffers.

“We lost $16 million in assessed valuation, which is about $50,000 in real money that we lost,” Assistant Town Supervisor Tom Dolan said.

To make matters worse, the town only found out about the reduction in July of this year.

“That is a big chunk of money for a small town, and we only learned about it in a notice through the mail this summer. There was no communication from the city of Albany,” Crandall said.

One of the properties owned by the city of Albany that was reduced in its assessment is a plot of land on Route 144 which was slated for a trash dump years ago, but the project was scrapped following community opposition. Earlier this year, the assessment on that property was cut in half, Crandall said.

In addition to losing revenue from reduced assessments, the town also had an unexpected bill. The town was required by the court to retroactively reimburse both the city of Albany and the Albany Water Board for their properties being assessed too much in the past.

“Besides the $50,000, we also had to pay an additional amount, which we had to pay for 2018. We also got notice of that in July,” Crandall explained.

Dolan said the town board had cut the budget in 2018 through attrition, otherwise “things would have been even worse.”

“If we had not been frugal and watching our spending, we could be in so much worse shape,” Crandall said. “We are not in bad shape for 2019, but it would have been much better if we had not had those reductions in valuation.”

Meanwhile, in Crandall’s 2019 budget message, he said things are still looking up.

“Our cash flow is being controlled, our bills are being paid on time, and the town is in better shape than when I first took office,” according to the statement. “We must continue these good fiscal policies and keep spending under control or we could easily fall back into financial difficulty.”

Several infrastructure projects are either in the works or completed in the town, including a repaving project on Route 144, and work that is being done on water line replacements, as well as new sidewalks. More repaving is being done on the remainder of Route 144, from the hamlet to the Greene County line.

“Once that has been completed, we will have successfully paved Route 144 in its entirety,” according to Crandall’s statement.

Repaving is also being completed on Route 143 in the village, to Martins Hill.

“Altogether, the town board and I have overseen the largest capital construction projects that have taken place in the town of Coeymans,” according to the budget message. “These upgrades will enhance the quality of life for our residents in the town of Coeymans.”

Meanwhile, at the public hearing on Thursday, Nov. 8, one local resident asked about the police chief’s position, currently filled by Acting Police Chief Daniel Contento. She asked when a permanent chief would be named.

“Right now it looks like Dan (Contento) is going to be staying for a while,” Crandall responded. “We have one person interested in the job, and that person is not acceptable to any of the board members. So until we get someone who is acceptable, Dan will stay.”

Another resident asked about salary increases for the Ravena Rescue Squad, which is staffed by paid employees now, after many years as a volunteer squad.

Town Councilman Kenneth Burns said officials would give the squad’s employees bigger raises if the town could afford it.

“We just lost $16 million in [assessed value], and they (the board) are putting the money where they have to put it, and they are trying to keep as much money as they can in case something else happens,” Burns said. “I wish we could give you a million dollars — if it was up to me and I had it, you would get it. You don’t get the raises you deserve.”

As part of the budget, salaries of elected officials were also set. The town supervisor will earn $35,000 in 2019, each council member will be paid $12,000, each of the two town justices will receive $20,600, the highway superintendent will be paid $56,478, and the town clerk’s salary was set at $47,769.

The town council’s bimonthly meeting was held later the same evening as the public hearing, and the board unanimously voted to accept the preliminary budget as the town’s adopted budget for 2019.