Documents › Board of Trustees Work Session, 2026-02-25

budget 12 pages

Also attached to this agenda item: 2026 Budget Priorities Survey Results

2026-2027 Village Budget at a Glance Bryan Healy, Village Manager/Budget Officer 2025-2026 Budget Summary 2025-2026 Budget Highlights  Three full-time positions were created. Two were in the Engineering Department: Assistant Building Inspector and Fire Inspector (previously part-time), and one in the Dept. of Public Works: Laborer.  An additional EMT was budgeted for 6 AM to 6 PM on weekdays to ensure adequate responses from Croton EMS to emergency calls.  A professional planner was engaged to assist the Engineering Department and Planning Board with the review of site plan and special permit applications.  The Village Assessor function was consolidated with the Town of Cortlandt in March 2025, with budgetary savings realized in FY26.  Additional funding was provided to some committees and funding was provided to several committees for the first time to enhance programming.  A new shed was purchased for the food scrap recycling program to expand the capacity of the program (currently has a waiting list). 2026-2027 Tax Cap Information • The tax cap legislation was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2012. • The legislation allows municipalities to increase their tax levy (not tax rate, which is the amount used to calculate individual tax bills) by 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. • Municipalities that do not raise their tax levies to the maximum amount each year are allowed to “carryover” the remaining amount into the following fiscal year. • The maximum tax levy permitted under the FY2027 tax cap is $13,904,547, which would be an increase of 4.3% over the tax levy established in FY2026. • The Village has remained tax cap compliant since the legislation was enacted, except for one year. 2025-2026 Budget Breakdown 6% 25% 19% 3% 6% 3% 18% 1% 1% 11% 3% 4% Proposed FY2026 Appropriations Other Benefits & Insurance DPW Engineer Admin Recreation Police Court Contingency Debt Fire EMS 2026-2027 Expenditures - Salaries • The Village has 71 full-time employees and 12 permanent part-time employees in the General Fund (four additional employees are budgeted in the Water Fund). • Salaries accounted for approximately 42% of the Village’s adopted budget in FY26. • Most employees are represented by either the Teamsters Local 456 or the Croton Police Association (CPA). • Employees covered under the current Teamsters contract will receive salary increases of 2.75% and employees covered under the current CPA contract will receive salary increases of 3% in the FY27 budget. 2026-2027 Expenditures - Benefits • Benefits and insurance, which are largely contractual or set by state law, account for approximately 25% of the Village’s annual expenditures. • Health insurance premiums increased by 8.8% for family plans and 8.9% for individual plans as of January 1, 2026. • The required state pension contributions decreased by 4.1% for police officers and increased by 6.5% for all other full-time employees. • Property insurance is expected to increase by approximately 7% while workers compensation insurance is expected to decrease by approximately 10% • The Village Clerk and I regularly review all offerings to ensure the Village is receiving the most competitive pricing whenever feasible. 2026-2027 Expenditures – Debt Service • Debt service is another significant required payment in the budget. Total debt continues to decrease as the chart below shows. Debt accounted for 3% of the FY26 budget. • Debt payments totaled $2,665,199 in FY26 and are budgeted at $2,935,153 in FY27. 2026-2027 Revenues • While non-property tax revenues are expected to increase in the FY2027 budget, they will not increase at the rate that we have seen in the past few years. • Some notable increases include: • $75,000 in sales tax revenue • $25,000 in gross receipt tax revenue • $50,000 in interest and earnings • $38,477 in rental of real property • $75,000 in Water Fund transfer • $50,000 in fines and forfeited bail • $50,000 in building permits • $25,000 in ambulance billing • $88,000 in parking permits • $154,000 in daily parking revenue 2026-2027 Budget Summary (Draft) • At this point in time (February 20, 2026), the General Fund budget for 2026- 2027 increases the tax levy by 3.47% and the tax rate by 3.59%. • This would be a tax cap compliant budget if presented in its current form. • Expenditures in the budget have increased by $1,071,280 and revenues have increased by $644,317. • These numbers are still in draft form and will likely fluctuate between now and March 20, when the budget is required to be filed with the Village Clerk. 2026-2027 Water & Sewer Funds • The Water and Sewer Funds are established as enterprise funds, meaning that the necessary revenue to operate the systems are raised by service fees charged to the customers. • In the FY26 budget, water and sewer rates were flat compared to the previous year. • A flat rate is currently budgeted for water and sewer for FY27. • Higher than expected revenues in the water fund are allowing the Village to set aside funds for capital upgrades to the distribution system.