A $250,538 state grant recently awarded to the towns of Chemung and Ashland will allow the municipalities to keep property taxes stable for several years, officials said Wednesday.
The towns will evenly split the state Municipal Restructuring Fund grant to add to savings from consolidating Ashland’s highway department into Chemung’s last June.
After two of Ashland’s three highway employees retired, the remaining employee became part of Chemung’s road crew. As a result, Ashland is expected to save between $80,000 and $90,000 a year in salaries, while Chemung gains $30,000 to $35,000 a year in revenue, Chemung Town Supervisor George Richter said Wednesday.
The grant money will have immediate impact for both towns, which have seen losses in sales tax revenue in recent years between a region-wide decline and a decrease in the amount Chemung County distributes to municipalities.
“We’re going to use these funds to help hold our property tax in line,” said Ashland Town Supervisor Vern Robinson.
Taxes may increase slightly in Ashland for 2017, but will not go above the state’s 0.68 percent cap on tax levy increases, even though the town board passed a resolution to exceed it, Robinson said.
Richter said he will use some of the money to fill an anticipated budget deficit for 2017. He plans to present a draft budget to the town board next week that contains a slight reduction in the tax levy, he said. The rest will be placed into a reserve fund.
Although officials don’t anticipate being able to decrease the tax levy each year, the money will at least stabilize taxes for the time being, Richter said.
“There’s enough funds there to apply to several subsequent years of budgets as well,” he said.
Sharing services added 16 miles of roadway to the 54 miles that Chemung’s highway department had already maintained. Highway Superintendent Chris Doane said the arrangement has worked well so far, with no negative effects on service.
“We haven’t had, really, hardly any complaints or anything,” Doane said. “That’s what we work off. If we have a complaint, we take care of it. Other than that, I think it’s working out fine.”
Chemung County Legislator Rodney J. Strange (R-15), whose district includes the Town of Ashland, says the results of the consolidation, that the county played an essential role in, was a ground breaking arrangement that deserves the support of the state. “This is the type of shared service that is a model for other municipalities in the state to follow,” Strange said. “The receiving of this grant will allow town residents to avoid a tax increase in the coming years.”
Chemung plans to submit a second Municipal Restructuring Fund application with the Town of Erin to fund an upcoming consolidation of their justice courts, which received state approval over the summer.