2012 Town of Dickinson Budget
2012 Town of Dickinson Budget Highlights
- Total spending for 2012 has been reduced by 3%, from $3,550,000 to $3,511,000
- The total property tax rate will be increased by 1.75%, .25% below the tax cap. On average, this rate equates to about .05 cents per thousand dollars of property assessment.
- Your new town tax rates are as follows: General Fund - $1.38 p/1000, Highway - $.66 cents p/1000
- Spending was reduced throughout all the town departments but no services to our residents were eliminated or reduced.
- The retirement contribution to NY State for 2012 had an increase of 17% (State mandate)
- We anticipate the cost of health insurance to increase by approximately 12% for 2012.
- We continue to pay down our loans (bonds) at a rapid pace saving a great deal of interest. The bonding is for the town hall and the two major flood mitigation projects that we completed after the 2006 flood.
- We continue to maintain the highest financial rating from Moody's Financial due to our conservative spending, healthy surplus in various accounts, and the low tax rates that are charged to our residents.
- Sales tax revenue was capped by Broome County therefore, all of the municipalities will not see large increases from the sale tax revenue.
- There were no salary increases for elected officials with the exception of the Highway Superintendent and Town Clek (2%) who are both full time. No salary increases for Planning & Zoning Board members, Town Assessor, Town Judges, Town Attorney, Code Enforcement. Town staff received a 2% salary increase.
- Though it was announced by the County that there will be no property tax rate increases, due to an error by the County, Town of Dickinson residents will see an increase in their county rates by approximately 17%.
The Town of Dickinson remains one of the lowest taxed towns in Broome County while continuing to offer many great services. We will continue to seek out ways of saving tax payer dollars through shared services, more efficient operations and by increasing our tax base through new developments., both residential and commercial.