Lyme to keep tax rate steady

CHAUMONT — The town of Lyme will use about half of its remaining general fund balance to keep the tax rate steady under a revised town budget adopted Friday night,

The 2010 tax rate will remain the same at $2.06 per $1,000 of assessed value. The town decided to take $160,000 from its fund balance next year to drive the property tax levy down.

"I think it's good that we are keeping the budget down, but the fund balance is a concern to me," town Supervisor Scott G. Aubertine said.

If the town continues to avoid raising the tax rate and depletes its fund balance, he said, it would be forced to increase taxes by a huge amount in the near future.

"I'd rather have a small increase each year than having a huge increase one year," he said.

Under the 2010 town budget, the tax levy will be $197,460, down by $21,597, or 9.9 percent, from $219,057 this year.

The total budget, including highway spending and fire protection, went down by $184,246, or 9.2 percent, from $2,007,687 to $1,823,441.

General fund spending is down by 11.2 percent, from $943,836 to $837,738. The town's Highway Department also will be spending less next year. The highway budget was reduced by 7 percent, from $925,851 to $860,371.

Mr. Aubertine said the town had to cut back on spending and freeze salaries for town workers and elected officials because of the decrease in estimated sales tax revenue.

The town is expecting to receive about $30,000 less in sales taxes next year, from $830,000 this year to $800,000 next year.

Salaries for the town supervisor, clerk and council members will remain the same, at $10,300, $29,800 and $4,885, respectively.

The newly elected highway superintendent will be paid $4,147 less than his predecessor, Thomas H. Parker. The new superintendent, Patrick D. Weston, will receive $47,000 next year.

The town also will set aside about $150,000 of the fund balance to purchase a truck in 2012, leaving only $65,000 in the town's fund balance.

The town buys a new truck for its Highway Department every five years, Mr. Aubertine said.