October 28, 2010

Granville Levy to drop 10 percent

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Fire protection increase included

The Granville Town Board Tuesday night approved the 2011 budget, a measure that will drop the town’s tax levy by 10 percent.

Following a public hearing where the focus of discussion was Dan Boone, the town’s sole assessor, the board voted unanimously to approve the budget.

Town budget officer Joel Carpenter said he would soon have tax rates for the town, but could not say how taxes would be affected due to the increased values of parcels after the revaluation.

The budget taps the town’s unexpended fund balance for $319,844, reducing the tax levy to $1.14 million.

Carpenter said the budget also contains an increase in the fire protection rate for the fire departments, which receive funding from the town.

Residents questioned the board regarding any raises at this point in time, particularly the increase in wages for the assessor and assessor’s clerk Dorothy Roberts.

Interim Supervisor Beverly Tatko said the board was not taking any raise in this budget had not taken a raise in at least two years.

Board members said the increased cost was not precisely a raise but resulted from the town’s decision to implement an annual reassessment in a move to maintain the town’s valuation at 100 percent.

The new assessment method would require additional work necessitating the additional wages, they said.

Board members Ken Quick and Tom Cosey told the dozen assembled residents they were sure Granville got a good deal from Boone, who turned in one of the lowest cost-per-parcel assessments in the county.