RENSSELAERVILLE — The proposed  $2.5 million town budget for 2017 has numbers not so different from those in the 2016 budget. The plan has moved through a series of town board workshops, has been approved as preliminary, and will receive public comment at a Nov. 9 hearing before it’s finally adopted.

Total proposed spending for 2017 is only slightly higher — by $61,579 — than in the 2016 budget.

Most of the increase, says Town Supervisor Valerie Lounsbury, is owed to the planned purchase of an emergency generator to back up power to the town hall, the designated command center in the event of a disaster.  The budget calls for spending $40,000 to buy and install a generator, but bidding will determine the final cost. Lounsbury says the plan is to have the generator up and running by spring.

The only other large capital outlay in the budget, Lounsbury said,  is the estimated cost  of a quarter-ton pickup truck for the highway department, reflected in a $21,700 increase in the budget’s highway department road-machinery line.

The conservative budget calls for small savings in many areas while keeping most salaries at their current levels, and stays under the state-mandated property tax cap.

Lounsbury says of the 2017 plan, “We have a really good handle on appropriations and have the budget process set up to budget adequate amounts without any big increase or decreases.”

The town tax rate should remain unchanged, Lounsbury says. This is her fifth budget as town supervisor.

On the revenue side, the budget deploys funds left over from the current year — along with “some from the fund balance ,” Lounsbury says.  Drawing from the town’s surplus and reserves will supplement property taxes, the Albany County sales-tax distribution, and other income-sources in order to balance spending and income.  The 2017 general fund gets a $267,380 boost from 2016 unspent funds and the rainy-day account. The 2017 highway fund gets $50,000 from those sources. Information about the amount of the current fund balance was not made available by press time.

Most revenue sources — including  property taxes — remain largely unchanged. One exception is what the town gets from its cable provider. Negotiations more than doubled the franchise fee the company pays the town: from $2,400 in 2016 to $5,500 in 2017.

As in 2016, the budget funds payment of legal fees — beyond the $34,000 retainer paid to the town attorney — to defend the town against lawsuits like the one brought by the citizens group Scenic Rensselaerville against the town planning board. The suit challenges the town’s  approval of an emergency communications tower the Albany County Sheriff Department wants to erect near Potter Hollow.  That suit has yet to be decided.

The $1,500 budgeted for legal fees in 2016 turned out to be too low. To the end of September, $4,305 has been spent so far this year. The proposed  budget calls for $3,500 to be available for legal fees in 2017.

Rensselaerville is one of two Hilltowns — the other is Berne —  to pay a yearly fee for the use of Munis software for town government financial management. The annual $25,500 cost is well worth it, says Lounsbury. “It helps us track expenses,” she says, “and come up with efficiencies.”    

Salaries for town employees remain largely unchanged with the exception of a $200 per annum raise for each assessor, and $300 more for each town justice.

The supervisor’s office receives a $10,000 trimming in the money set aside for audit-related expenses. An audit of the town by the state Comptroller Office was recently completed.

For a $2,000 reduction in the cost of office supplies, Lounsbury credits the fact that “all our offices are better organized at this point.”

The amount five privately-managed cemeteries receive from the town to help with maintenance  was increased by $150 to a total of $9,050 for all five. It’s an arrangement the town wants to last. The state requires that cemeteries revert to the town if they can no longer be maintained by private associations.

The budget proposal includes five special districts:  Rensselaerville Lighting ($4,550),  Potter Hollow Lighting ($4,100), Rensselaer Fire ($58,650), Tri-Village Fire ($58,650), and Medusa Fire ($62,150).   Appropriations for the last two were increased by $1,045 and $2,045, respectively. Two other districts —  Sewer and Water — are funded by user fees. The Hydrant district stays the same as last year, while  Ambulance increases only slightly to $31,200.

Like all budgets, this town budget is partly a projection of future needs that cannot be entirely known. It sets aside $25,000 on a line labeled Contingency for things no one sees coming.