HomeMy WebLinkAboutBudget Committee Minutes 5-10-2021
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BUDGET COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes - May 10, 2021
DRAFT
Committee present: Eric Levine, Pat Leary, Pamela Bleiwas
Staff present: Donna Shaw, Judy Drake, Marty Mosely, and Joe Slater
Others present: Rod Howe, Bill Goodman
Meeting was called to order by Chairman Levine at 12:02 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS:
Review and approve April 12, 2021 meeting minutes.
Moved: Rod Howe Second: Eric Levine Motion Passed.
Initial review of Preliminary Five-Year Financial Plan for 2022-2026.
The Preliminary Five-Year is a work in progress and not quite ready to share with the committee.
This work did highlight a 2022 budget challenge related to sales tax and property tax allocations
between General Town-Wide Fund and Highway Part-Town Fund. In 2021, property tax was
reduced to 0 in the Highway Part-Town fund and increased by 31.75% in General Town-Wide Fund
to correct or re-allocate fund balance. This was supposed to be a one-time correction with General
Town-wide tax rate returning to “normal” in 2022, however, we still have the lost sales tax revenue
to cover. This will also mean that Highway Part-Town Fund will show a 100% property tax increase
(on the tax bill) when we resume levying in 2022. Historical tax allocations between General Town-
Wide and Highway Part-Town:
Update on Sales Tax and Mortgage Tax.
March sales tax receipts of $392,202.28 was 133% of the $294,969.05 received in March of 2020.
This puts the $854,466.20 received for the 1st quarter 6% higher than the $803,254.23 received in
2020 (pre-COVID) and 26% of the 2021 budget of $3,250,000.
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 % Change
General Fund
Property Tax 2,750,000 2,975,000 3,036,000 4,000,000 3,400,000 -17.65%
Sales Tax 400,000 300,000 750,000 1,750,000 - -100.00%
3,150,000 3,275,000 3,786,000 5,750,000 3,400,000 -69.12%
Highway Part-Town
Property Tax 1,400,000 1,440,000 1,466,000 - 800,000 100.00%
Sales Tax 1,650,000 1,550,000 1,300,000 750,000 2,000,000 62.50%
3,050,000 2,990,000 2,766,000 750,000 2,800,000 73.21%
Historical Budgeted Property & Sales Tax
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Mortgage tax payments are received from the County twice a year, in April and October. April’s
payment of $158,060.48 was 57.44% higher than the $100,391.42 received for the same period in
2020 and 63.2% of the 2021 budget of $250,000.
Update on January – April Year-to-Date Interest Totals.
Interest earnings for January - April totaled $33,180.34. This is only 20% of budget but to be
expected with the rates being so low. We budgeted $160,750 for interest in 2021 and received
$204,209 in 2020.
Discuss Re-investment of funds from Certificate of Deposit maturing on May 22nd.
We received a quote for a 12-month Certificate of Deposit from First National Bank of Groton for
.50% APY for 12 months. We are still waiting for an updated rate from Tompkins Trust but
previously they quoted us .18% APY for 12 months.
We also reached out to Tioga State Bank who was not able to accommodate the size of our
Certificate Deposit at this time but seemed eager to establish a relationship for future banking
needs. Eric explained that banks in general have a lot of stimulus money on deposit and no good
place to invest it themselves. Banks are also required to have a certain percentage of retained
earnings in relation to deposits so need to be careful how much they take on.
After discussion, it was decided to wait for an updated rate from Tompkins Trust Company but if
not competitive, pursue moving the $8 million certificate of deposit to First National Bank of Groton.
This will require a resolution brought to the Town Board.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:28 p.m.
Next Meeting: Monday, June 14, 2021 at 12:00 pm, Town Hall - Aurora Room (and/or Zoom)