By Dan King
If you live in the village of Granville, your taxes will go up this year – the question is, by how much?
Despite some objections from residents, the Village Board voted 5-0 Monday to override the state’s 0.12 percent tax levy increase cap.
“It wasn’t easy,” said Mayor Brian LaRose. “I’ll be honest with you, there is no fat in this budget … our revenue is just about exhausted.”
If the village were to comply with the 0.12 percent tax cap that would mean only an increase of $1,255 in total levy. An $11,500 increase in health insurance costs, an $8,043 increase in workman’s compensation, and a loss of $22,000 of revenue in snow removal and Stop DWI funds, are some of the reasons the village felt it had to override the cap.
LaRose said just to cover those expenses and revenue losses, the village would need to increase the levy 3.97 percent.
Residents who spoke before the vote voiced concerns for two main groups: Granville’s senior citizens and businesses.
“I’m here to represent the seniors who cannot afford increases,” said Hellen Chase. “The public trough has no endless source. We need to learn how to budget. What the people are saying is get the message or get out. We can’t spend money we don’t have.”
Edith Sparling added: “I can’t continue to live here and see the costs continue to go up. I’m not the only older resident in this situation. I’d really like to see the village take a look at itself, it is not very inviting.”
Sparling said her house has been on the market for eight months and she hasn’t received a single inquiry. She attributed that to taxes.
Ed Crandall said he’s running into many of the same problems that fellow senior citizens Sparling and Chase cited.
“I think you’re going to put a lot of pressure on the older generation in this village,” he said.
Lindsay Schieffelin said he was concerned about the attractiveness of the village to potential businesses, as well as current ones.
“Our village has been in decline for decades. Main Street is a ghost town. There are somewhere between 20-30 homes in foreclosure,” he said. “Some people are behind on their property taxes or school taxes. And we will all face increased school taxes this year. And if you exceed your state tax guideline, you will be depriving many people in the village of their supplemental property check. This is the classic definition of a death spiral.”
He added that “we must balance the budget now, using a three-prong attack.”
Schieffelin said that the meeting last week discussing the future of Main Street shows that people have “a renewed interest” in the village. He added that the village should start with a zero-base budget, essentially wiping the slate clean.
To avoid overriding the cap, Darryll VanDetta suggested looking for “new sources of income,” such as code enforcement.
Not all the speakers were opposed to the tax cap override, however.
“I personally am honored to live in a place where I can pay taxes and see where they go,” said Molly Celani. “The federal and state government make millionaires with my taxes, at least in this small village I can see my tax dollars at work. I think you should look at (overriding the cap).”
She added that she felt there were “a lot of people doing good things for the village.”
“I think we’re beating up the poor board of Granville,” John Freed said. “I don’t think anyone (on the board) has a crystal ball, where they can see expenses down the road.”
Dave Williams added: “To get people my age to come here we need to invest in the community. We need to invest in our own community and that means spending money.”
When the public hearing was closed, LaRose said, “We took a lot of good notes and will take that all into account (when working on the budget).”
Each board member then weighed in on overriding the cap.
“I don’t really know where else we can cut,” said trustee Paul Labas. “The cap the state mandated is not feasible.”
Trustee Gordon Smith said: “We don’t like it, we know everyone out there is hurting. I think it’s unfortunate that the state has done what it has done. They’re pretty much telling us to operate at a zero percent increase, and at zero percent you don’t take care of things.”
“We held the line as tight as we could through the recession,” added trustee Dean Hyatt. “Could you find services to cut? Yes, but it would be painful and people would feel it every day.”
Lastly, trustee Frank Caruso said, “We have to override the cap, otherwise we’d have to cut things like the police department.”
Village officials haven’t stated a specific percent that taxes will increase, but LaRose said somewhere in the 4-5 percent range would cover the village’s basic operations. The exact number will be hashed out throughout the budgeting process.
However, one thing is certain: It will be more than 0.12 percent.