Lawrence Maintains Tax Rate in 2012-13 Budget

Village of  trustees once again denied Mayor Martin Oliner’s plea to lower taxes on Monday and voted of $71.60 per $100 of assessed property.

“The notion that we have so much of our tax payer's money is inappropriate,” Oliner told the board. “It may be small, but the notion is that it is time to start giving back.”

Trustees argued there wasn’t enough in the village's roughly $7.5 million fund balance or the recreational budget to allow Oliner’s proposed 2.3 percent tax cut, and unanimously agreed to keep the same rate. Most residents will see their taxes go down because property assessments have gone down.

“I think it’s a very dangerous precedent and a very slippery slope,” Deputy Mayor Joel Mael said. “If I was running this as my own business, I would actually increase the tax rate, but I would be comfortable keeping it flat for another year.”

Mael said the proposed cut would only save $25 per household, arguing the risk was too great for such a small break for residents.

At the end of Monday’s meeting, the board agreed on a $6,479,513 fiscal plan for 2012-13, a $306,052 increase to the current operating budget.

The board also reduced their projected revenues by $100,000, funding originally set aside for the ’s rebuilding project which is currently under deliberation, reducing the total appropriated revenue to $1,559,687.

“We do not have that agreement in place, and I do not know if it will ever be in place,” Trustee Ed Klar explained. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to budget $100,000 for something that doesn’t exist yet.”