Road repairs drive levy hike in proposed town budget

Town of Fredonia supervisors will ask voters for permission to exceed their state-mandated levy limit by $68,000, primarily to fix town roads.

Under the proposed budget presented by Town Clerk Bob Eichner and unanimously approved by the Town Board on Monday, Oct. 21, the property tax levy would jump 12% from $500,180 to $568,281.

That would increase the tax rate 17 cents to $10.34 per $1,000 of assessed value. That means the owner of a house assessed at $200,000 would pay $2,068 in property taxes, up $34 from the previous year.

With 51 miles of town roads, supervisors said they can’t keep up with maintenance under past budgets that only pay for refurbishing about one mile of road per year.

“You can do the math,” Supr. Jim Stemper said. “And the longer you wait (to fix roads), the more expensive it gets.”

“We have to increase spending just to maintain the status quo on our roads,” Town Chairman Lance Leider said.

The state allows communities to increase the property tax levy only by the net value of new construction, which in the town’s case would be 1.44%, or about $7,200, Eichner said.

“We can either tax for the money, or we can borrow the money and pay interest on it,” Stemper said.

The budget will be voted on by town residents on Wednesday, Nov. 13.