Somers Town Board Approves 2024 Budget

SOMERS, N.Y. - Somers officials last week adopted a 2024 town budget of $16,817,679.

Representing an increase of $799,181, or 4.99 percent, over the current spending plan, it will bump up the tax rate from $15.26 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $15.73, a 47-cent difference.

The 2024 tax levy – exclusive of special districts -- will be $7,803,762, $164,249 or 2.25 percent higher than the current one. This means that the budget stays under the state tax cap of 2.7 percent.

The tax cap law establishes a limit on the annual growth of property taxes levied.

Giving the budget highlights at the board’s Thursday, Dec. 14 meeting, Supervisor Robert Scorrano attributed the increase to the allocation of $300,000 for various capital projects, a hike in salaries because of the ratification of the CSEA contract, the hiring of two new part-time police officers, the setting aside of $61,000 for a new police car, and higher employee health insurance rates and retirement benefits, which, he emphasized “are not under the town’s control.”

The capital expenditures to which he refers are primarily for water and sewer system projects and maintenance that had to be deferred during the COVID pandemic.

They include the rehab and painting of the Ross Drive water storage tank, the installation of 200 feet of water main on Parkway Drive, the replacement of water meters and fire hydrants, upgrades at the Windsor Road pump station, the purchase of spare pumps and the upgrading of control panels at the Travis Road station, and the repair of several utility holes.

The town also kept $500,000 in the Highway Department’s budget for paving, like it did last year “without the need to bond,” Scorrano added.

Aside from property taxes, 2024 revenues are anticipated to be $8,964,847, a difference of $1,553,340 or 20.96 percent from the current plan.

That’s due to increases in county sales taxes, interest income, and the state’s CHIPS, or Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program’s funding, he said.

The board Thursday resumed the public hearing that it had carried over from its Dec. 6 meeting where Somers Library Trustee Bill Keane had expressed disappointment with the library’s allocation and told it that there were concerns services were going to have to be cut.

Director Jennifer Daddio had previously told The Somers Record that the Library Board is contemplating changes that include fewer programs and curtailed library hours.

Keane noted that library staff are “master’s level people and they’re not being paid according to their peers; they’re just not.”

Scorrano, saying it was hard having a conversation when he hadn’t yet seen all the library’s “numbers,” offered to meet with Keane and Daddio offline.

“We’ve done some things here to help the library out. When the rest of the info comes in, we’ll have a conversation with Jennifer and try to come to an understanding,” he promised.

The sole speaker at the Thursday, Dec. 14,  hearing was head of the library's Board of Directors, Barbara Tepper, who told the board that while she appreciated the town’s efforts to keep the levy under the tax cap, she was disappointed with what was being allocated for the library budget.

Social security benefits are going up 3.2 percent in 2024, but the cost of daily living is continuing to rise beyond that, she said, pointing to an upcoming 3.5 percent hike in fees for the folks who live in Heritage Hills.

“So to give employees of this town any less than that, they’re not going to be able to keep up with the inflation we are experiencing,” she said.

Scorrano thanked her for her comments and then, as there were no other speakers, closed the public hearing and then moved to adopt the budget.

It passed unanimously.