Proposed budget shows levy decrease

YATES COUNTY--Yates County Administrator Nonie Flynn has the 2023 proposed budget drafted. The proposal stays within the property tax cap and sees a reduction of the tax levy. The proposed 2023 property tax rate will decrease to $4.95 per thousand.
"Legislators may make changes, but hopefully the final budget will be a decrease from last year," said Flynn. "It's important to note that we're doing this with no cuts in services and no layoffs."
The proposed budget shows revenue for 2023 at $33,972,139, a 16.79 percent increase, and expenses at $49,884,574, a 9.38 percent increase. The levy goes down from $16,519,672 to $15,908,606, a 3.7 percent decrease. There is a 7.10 percent increase in the full value of taxable property in the county.
One of the highlights in the budget revenue column is an expected 26 percent increase in non-property tax related revenues.
"The main increase here is attributable to the sales tax revenue budgeted with an increase from $15 million in 2022 to $19 million in 2023," said Flynn in the budget narrative. "Occupancy tax revenue is budgeted with an increase of $200,000 to $900,000 based on the recent increase in the tourism economy since the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as anticipated revenue due to the use of Granicus software to find non-compliant rentals."
Flynn also noted that the proposed 2023 budget earmarks resources to pay for mandates issued by the state.
"The state sets the level and guidelines for programs like Medicaid," said Flynn. "However, Yates County pays all or most of the costs. New York is one of the few states that puts the cost of Medicaid on the county."
The narrative explains, "mandated net expenses account for 68.04 percent of the tax levy, totaling $10,824,809. The county's contribution to the state's Medicaid program continues to be the county's largest single expense and represents 37.19 percent of all mandates and 25.30 percent of the tax levy."
One of the largest dollar changes in the expense category is related to "economic assistance," a $1,017,730 change.
"The main increase in the Social Services budget is attributable to the mandated increases to the foster care rate and the adoption subsidy amount, coupled with an anticipated increase in the required payments to Medicaid and increased family assistance, foster care numbers and the contract for juvenile delinquent care," Flynn's narrative says.
With a transfer included in the budget, combined with American Rescue funds, there will now be $20.4 million in the building reserve funds for the highway/emergency services/public health building proposal.