Seneca Falls board advances 2025 budget with lower tax rate, reserve requests and staffing notes

The Seneca Falls Town Board reviewed a preliminary 2025 budget that calls for "expenditures of $14,940,000," reduced appropriations and modest tax-rate relief. A town presenter told the board that a delayed Safe Routes to School grant reduced planned spending by about $4,000,000 and that landfill revenue had been cut by roughly 25%, reducing an expected revenue line from about $4,000,000 to $3,000,000.

The presenter said the budget includes requests to use reserves: "$615,000 from the water department to improve their sedimentation removal process" and $10,000 from an A Fund reserve for police equipment, and recommends a 3.25% salary increase for employees and elected officials. The board was told the proposed town tax levy would be $3,565,000, producing a tax rate of about $5.16 per $1,000, down from $5.57 per $1,000 in the prior year. "This budget calls for expenditures of $14,940,000," the finance presenter summarized.

Board members asked follow-up questions about the number of employees expected to move into the newly created Department of Public Works and whether the budget had suitably accounted for any transfer costs. The supervisor said the town budgeted for at most one additional full-time position and that transfers would be subject to county civil-service rules. The board moved to accept the budget and discussed procedural options for waiving probationary transfer rules before formal adoption.

Looking ahead, the board expects additional review on reserve spending that would require public referenda where applicable; the water-department reserve spending request was described as money "already saved for that purpose" and would need a public referendum before being expended.