X

Potsdam town board to hold public hearing Nov. 5 on preliminary 2021 budget

Posted 10/28/20

BY ADAM ATKINSON North Country This Week POTSDAM — The Potsdam town board will hold a public hearing on the preliminary budget for 2021 on Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. The proposed fiscal plan for the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Potsdam town board to hold public hearing Nov. 5 on preliminary 2021 budget

Posted

BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — The Potsdam town board will hold a public hearing on the preliminary budget for 2021 on Nov. 5 at 6:30 p.m. The proposed fiscal plan for the coming year calls for total appropriations of $1,258,651.28 compared to $1,246,251.28 in the current year.

The amount to be raised by taxes in 2021 is $768,551.28 compared to the current year’s levy of $758,069.28. The town is expecting $308,000 from county and state sources, which is down from 2020’s $359,000 amount. The town is anticipating $15,000 less from court fees to help cover the 2021 budget and $26,000 less from state revenue sharing.

“Last year, we used $60,000 from the appropriated fund balance to balance the budget. The Town’s independent auditor had, earlier this year, advised us to use more of the fund balance (for 2021) because municipalities need to maintain a fund balance but, at the same time, must realize the fund is not intended to grow without limitation,” said Town Supervisor Ann Carvill. “The fund balance is needed for a rainy day and our conservative approach to spending over the years has left us in a position to use approximately $140K from the fund balance and still have funds left to deal with unexpected expenses.”

The town board met with the village board on Oct. 14 to discuss the coming year’s budget for the Potsdam Recreation Program, a joint program funded by the two municipalities. The town board plans to fund its share for that program at $160,000, which is $7,000 from the current year.

The public hearing will be held on the Zoom cloud conferencing platform. Visit https://potsdamny.us/community/town-news-notices/55-town-hall-is-open.html for the meeting link.