Town Board approves $1.1 million 2008 budget

   The Caledonia Town Board unanimously approved a $1.1 million 2008 budget at the November 8 meeting. Supervisor Daniel Pangrazio, Jr. called the budget, "a good one," and said the board is pleased as well.

   Taxpayers will be in favor of this budget as tax rates will go unchanged for next year at $4.19 per thousand of assessed value for town residents outside of the village and $1.65 per thousand of assessed value for village residents. The budget includes funding for the Caledonia Library, a highway equipment purchase, money for the highway capital reserve fund, employee salary increases and health insurance benefits.

   The town board also approved an increase in the property tax exemption for persons with disabilities from $17,500 to $18,500.

   Other discussions included a proposal from a developer interested in subdividing and selling individual building lots on vacant land at the corner of Barks and Neale Roads. Some residents in the area are concerned about the potential impact on their wells if additional wells are installed in the area.

   The TB approved the appointment of Julie Molisani as the town court clerk and Darlene Pike as planning board clerk.

   The TB will hold its annual reorganizational meeting on January 2, 2008 at which time the supervisor, town clerk and board members beginning new terms will take the oath of office.

Caledonia Supervisor says 2008 budget looks good

   Except in campaign promises, it isn’t often that taxpayers hear, "no increase," but for next year in the Town of Caledonia, that is precisely the phrase coming from Supervisor Dan Pangrazio and the town board.

   Pangrazio presented the preliminary 2008 budget to the town board last week. While there may be a few minor adjustments made in it, the $1,096,487 budget results in an unchanged $4.19 tax rate per thousand of assessed value for property owners in the town of Caledonia outside of the village, as compared with last year’s town budget. Village residents will also enjoy an unchanged tax rate of $1.65 per thousand; the second year in a row there’s been no increase.

   Pangrazio said the 2008 budget holds the line on spending in several areas while maintaining services, employee benefits and healthy capital reserve funds. Pangrazio said the budget also includes $35,000 in funding for the Caledonia Library, the amount requested for 2008 by the Library Board in an effort to reduce their operating budget deficit.

   "We held the line on a lot of things, some things that we would have liked to do next year. However, we’ve done a lot of work in the town, including a lot of road maintenance," Pangrazio said.

   The 2008 preliminary budget includes funding for the purchase of a piece of highway equipment jointly purchased with several other Livingston County townships through a shared municipality grant. It also adds approximately $20,000 to the highway equipment capital reserve for heavy equipment purchases in 2009 and beyond. Pangrazio says he is very proud of the road work done this year by the highway crew and says this budget increased funding for future road maintenance by five percent.

   Employee health insurance benefits will remain unchanged in 2008 as well. The Town of Caledonia will continue to pay 100 percent of their employee’s health insurance premium, at least for another year. The supervisor said the board values the town employees and their dedicated work ethic. By incorporating alternative measures such as the use of flex cards, the board has been able to offer a reasonable health care plan free of charge to its employees.

   Pangrazio will present the 2008 budget to town board on October 18, 2007. A public hearing will be held in November before it the budget is officially adopted by the town board sometime in November.

   "I take the budget process very seriously and I spend a lot of sleepless nights while I’m putting it together. I’m very pleased with this budget. At the end of the day, we’ve done well," Pangrazio remarked.