Elmsford presents tentative $3.9 million budget, board says tax rate likely to fall

Elmsford officials reviewed a tentative budget that the village administrator said rolls department lines into the New York State controller chart of accounts and yields a $3.9 million tentative total, up from a $3.7 million adopted budget in the prior year. The administrator said personnel services reflect a 3% increase consistent with recently signed agreements and added stipends tied to collective bargaining terms.

The administrator said the blue line in the budget workbook represents the proposed tentative numbers and that the presentation preserves historically used local account lines while rolling them up into controller categories for clarity. “The personnel services just to kind of do this here with admin ... this reflects a 3% increase in line with the agreement that we just recently signed,” the administrator said.

Board members and department heads then reviewed line items across departments. Several expense lines were increased to align budgets with recent actual spending: telephone/communications was raised to better match multi‑year actuals; snow‑removal contractual expenses were bumped substantially after this winter’s emergency costs; and a variety of equipment and vehicle lines were adjusted to reflect aging fleet needs. The administrator noted that raising some line items does not necessarily mean higher taxes, because the tentative plan includes savings and use of reserve funds that are expected to lower the village tax rate overall.

Officials emphasized that many increases respond to prior underbudgeting against recurring actuals. For example, streetlight maintenance and certain equipment lines were higher in recent years and were adjusted in the tentative budget to prevent repeated year‑end shortfalls. The administrator also said department heads and the accounts‑payable staff will tighten recurring contract reviews to seek additional savings before final adoption.

Next steps: staff will return with more precise cost estimates for select items (vehicles, radios, camera systems) and the board will work through final trial balances and reserve‑fund allocations before adopting the budget later in the process.