By NEAL RENTZ
Following weeks of discussion, the Lewisboro Town Board has voted unanimously to approve the 2025 budget, which will meet the state-mandated property tax cap of 2.49 percent and utilize less of the surplus than anticipated.
The combined general and highway budgets add up to $16,580,81, not including special districts.
The original tax increase was about 14 percent.
The board agreed to reduce the amount of the surplus that would be used for next year’s budget.
Supervisor Tony Gonçalves told members this week he recently learned from the health insurance carrier for town employees that it would be charging the town about $200,000 less than the town had originally anticipated for next year. Previously, the town board considered using about $738,000 of the surplus. As a result, the final 2025 budget will include about $538,000 from the surplus.
“That’s the big difference here,” Gonçalves said.
The large revenue source for the 2025 budget is the town’s share of the Westchester County sales tax, which makes up 41.59 percent of the town’s revenues, Gonçalves said, adding the revenues generated by the town’s parks and recreation department is second with 19.16 percent of next year’s revenues.
A major topic of discussion during the budget discussions this fall has been the town’s contribution to the Lewisboro Library. The percentage increase in the contribution to the library was 3.75 in 2019; 4 in 2020; 1.23 in 2021; 2.8 in 2022; 8.75 in 2024; and as of this week’s meeting, 12.66 for 2025, Gonçalves said.
During this week’s public hearing on the budget, resident Barbara Mangione said the budget process this year has not been as specific and transparent and the process with the town board started later than the previous two years. The budget presentations, except for the library, were shorter than those in the past, she said.
“There wasn’t as much in-depth public review of each of the department’s revenues and expenses,” Mangione said. The pie charts presented at this week’s meeting should have been provided earlier in the process, she said. Some of the town board members’ questions about the budget were not fully reviewed or answered, she said.
Mangione thanked Gonçalves for answering her questions, but she wished he had done so publicly. Spending could have been “looked at with a fine-tooth comb” to save additional money, while continuing to provide the same services, she said.
Another resident who spoke at the public hearing, Simone O’Connor, said she wanted the police department to get a new headquarters.
“Safety is a huge concern and should be a priority for all of us,” she said.
O’Connor said she did not understand why the parks and recreation department will run the Pride and Juneteenth events next year while other groups were denied money for their events.
Though she is an avid reader, O’Connor said she does not use the Lewisboro Library because of its hours of operation. While she applauded Library Director Cindy Rubino for her original budget request, library funding has to be balanced with other needs of the town, O’Connor said.
She said she doesn’t know anyone who uses the library. Rather than having the library hire a part-time employee to seek grants, a committee should be formed to raise money for the library, O’Connor said. She did not like the idea of the supervisor presenting a program at the library the day before the town board was deciding on how much it would provide to the library next year.
However, resident Rob Cummings said he supported the funding for the library, which he has visited 68 times this year.
“I recommend it highly,” he said.
Cummings said he had no objection to the supervisor speaking at the library whenever he wanted to.
A variety of programs are offered at the library, Cummings said. “It’s a cultural hub of this community,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of cultural hubs in this community.”
While he said the work of volunteers is positive, “You can’t rely on volunteers to do everything,” Cummings said in support of the creation of a part-time position for someone to do fundraising for the library.
Councilman Richard Sklarin said he wanted to know how the board could get to a zero tax increase for next year, particularly with high inflation and having many town residents living on fixed incomes.
Each 1 percent in taxes is about $80,000, Gonçalves said, adding he did not want to take too much out of the surplus for next year’s budget because there will be funding needs in the future including upgrading facilities.
“I think it’s unwise to project false expectations,” Councilman Dan Welsh said, opposing any additional use of the surplus for 2025.
Councilwoman Andrea Rendo said she was feeling more positive that less of the surplus was being used for next year’s budget.
“I’d rather move ahead conservatively,” Rendo said of next year’s budget season..
Gonçalves said the 2025 budget would increase his town property taxes by $38 and town taxes make up 9.72 percent of his total tax bill, with school taxes making up 75 percent of his taxes.
Zoning amendments public hearing
Also at this week’s meeting, the board opened its public hearing on proposed zoning amendments, which is connected to the work to revise the comprehensive plan adopted by the town board earlier this year.
One resident, Jennifer Cipriano, owner of Copia Home and Garden, spoke about the proposed amendments at the meeting, specifically about the proposals for allowing animals in residential districts.
Cipriano, who has a background in agriculture, said one reason many people have moved to the area is because they want to raise their own food. Raising animals teaches children valuable lessons, she said.
Cipriano said the amendment includes a proposed chart that would be used as guidance for how many animals would be allowed on a residential property.
The chart states the number of animals for a small area, Cipriano said.
“There are larger schools of thought now about what are more sustainable ways to raise animals,” she said. “Someone with 1 acre of pasture could raise, say, 10 goats better than someone with 20 acres of mixed swamp, wetland and rocky terrain area.”
The town board voted unanimously to resume the public hearing no earlier than the first meeting in January, when it expects to have received comments from the planning board.