Henrietta board applies $6.13 million in fund balances to budget, servers, roads and drainage projects

The Henrietta Town Board voted July 1 to apply excess unassigned fund balance from 2025 across multiple town funds to reduce future tax impacts and to fund capital purchases.

Supervisor Schultz said the board will apply a total (stated at the meeting as roughly $6,126,94—board language shows the allocation across many items) with $5.5 million targeted to the 2027 town budget to help minimize tax increases. Specific allocations cited at the meeting included $220,000 for new IT servers, $200,000 for library IT services, $16,600 for town hall server‑room HVAC and power upgrades, $54,955 for grinding dangerous sidewalks in the Berkshire subdivision, $9,999 to repair a highway truck, and equipment purchases for DPW (including a milling head and netting for driving ranges). The sewer fund allocations cited included $432,500 in total (with $370,000 applied to the 2027 budget), $40,000 for a catch basin crane and $22,500 to slip‑line sewers on Caukins Road. The town also allocated $265,000 from the drainage fund (including $70,000 for a mini excavator and $45,000 for a culvert or bridge over the Lake Pamela outlet, contingent on a negotiated land swap).

Supervisor Schultz said staff trimmed or negotiated some line items (for example reducing a repair price below $10,000 so the supervisor could approve it) and emphasized the goal of minimizing tax rate increases. "We will be assigning a total of 6,126,94. The vast majority—5.5 million—will be applied to the 2027 town budget to minimize tax increases," he said. The board approved the allocations by roll call vote.

The allocations cover a mix of immediate repair needs (sidewalk grinding and truck repairs), planned IT purchases that the town said are urgent because hardware costs are rising, and capital investments in sewer and storm infrastructure that officials said will address localized flooding and capacity bottlenecks.