Politics & Government

Public Hearing on Tuesday for 2014 Town Budget

The Bedford Town Board will hold a public hearing at its Tuesday meeting for the proposed 2014 town budget, according to the meeting's agenda.

The budget calls for spending $26,927,947, which is an increase from $26,880,503 for 2013.

The tax levy, which represents the amount of tax revenue to be included, would rise from $17,941,633 for 2013 to $18,302,261. This represents an increase of about 2.01 percent.

The tax cap is the lesser of two percent or the rate of inflation. Ed Ritter, the town's comptroller, explained that the cap is 1.66 percent. However, the proposed levy is within the cap because it includes a figure called the growth factor, which is an exemption for changing of the tax base.

Meanwhile, the tax rate, which represents what property taxpayers owe per $1,000 of assessed value, would rise from 31.0090 to 31.6752, which is by about 2.15 percent. Unlike the tax levy, the tax rate is not capped.

In August, when Ritter presented a long-term fiscal projection report to the town board, it was noted that the town faced a gap of $692,082 for 2014.

The public hearing starts on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at the town house in Bedford Hills. A copy of the tentative budget is at this link. The dollar increase amount for the tax-rate hike incorrectly stated in that document as 1.47. According to an overview table sent to Patch, the correct amount is 0.67.


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