Somers Town Board Okays 2016 Budget with 2.7% Tax Hike
The Somers Town Board voted unanimously last week to approve an $8.76 million 2016 general fund budget that includes no major program cuts or additions and meets the state-mandated property tax cap.
Through there were some slight changes among categories of his originally proposed spending plan, Supervisor Rick Morrissey said, there was “zero change to the bottom line.”
The proposed tax rate increase is 2.7 percent and the tax levy hike is 2.48 percent. “We’re still under the tax cap,” Morrissey said at last week’s meeting.
District clerk retirement
The meeting on December 10 also marked the last regularly scheduled town board meeting for Somers Town Clerk Kathleen Pacella, who declined to seek reelection this fall. Pacella, who is completing her 13th year as town clerk, has been a town employee for 31 years.
Pacella was praised by Morrissey at the meeting “for her years of service to the town.”
As the newest member of the town board, Councilman William Faulkner said Pacella was very helpful in assisting him with learning about town government.
Pacella noted she has served with four town supervisors. “I’m going to miss the work,” she said, but, she quipped, she would not miss getting up early in the morning to get ready for her job.
