BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

CANTON — The village board held a public hearing on the village’s 2024-2025 preliminary budget recently and approved overriding the 2 percent tax cap to balance the coming year’s fiscal plan.

“The tentative budget presented on April 3 has changed considerably,” said Canton Village Mayor Mike Dalton during the April 17th public hearing. “The original request would have given us a 20.5 percent tax increase. So it’s changed considerably after careful review during the budget sessions. This preliminary budget represents a 24 cent per thousand increase in the tax rate. Which is an  increase of 2.34 percent from last year.”

The rate under the current numbers will increase to $10.755 from $10.506.

Dalton said the increase in the tax levy over last year, from $1,882,190 to $1,900,268, is 2.96 percent, which places the village over the 2 percent tax cap.

Later during its regular meeting the village board voted to override the 2 percent tax cap to allow the budget to pass.

The 2024-2025 budget would use $116,100 in appropriated fund balance to make ends meet.

Total appropriations for the 2024-25 general fund are currently estimated to be $7,450,097, up $292,095 from the 2023-24 budget.

The mayor said the budget is reflective of several state mandates including the minimum wage increase, as well as the fact that the state budget delay leaves the village guessing as to the amount of state highway funding it might receive.

The only comment from the public during the hearing came from Greg Todd who asked why the capital spending seemed to be down this year. The mayor said equipment that was purchased for the current year is not requested again for the coming year which allowed the village to bring the 2024-2025 budget down to a more manageable level.

A special budget session is scheduled for April 23 at 7 p.m. to hone the numbers further. Dalton said some minor shuffling of numbers among line items may be in order but the budget as it stands now will remain at its current levels overall.

Another special meeting will be called before May 1 to conduct a final review and vote on the budget.

Copies of the budget are available on the village website at cantonny.gov .