Richmondville Village Tentative Budget Has Tax Hike Close To 2%

By Chris English

RICHMONDVILLE — Property taxes for Village of Richmondville residents will likely go up almost two percent for 2025-26.

That was the proposed increase in a tentative village budget presented at a public hearing Thursday, April 10 at the Richmondville Firehouse. According to a summary of the tentative budget handed out at the meeting, the village tax rate per 1,000 would go from the current 6.72324563 to 6.882728026, which equates to an increase slightly less than the two percent cap allowed by the state, village Trustee Robert Hyatt said.

The board is scheduled to vote on adopting the 2025-26 budget at its regular meeting on Monday, April 21. It must be adopted by May 1 but would not take effect until June 1 and then run through May 31, 2026.The biggest appropriation listed in the tentative budget is $2,105,575 under Enterprise, which Hyatt explained is Richmondville Power & Light. The village has a rate case pending before the state Public Service Commission, which might lead to the first rate hike for RPL customers in more than a decade.

"With electric, we're upside down going out so long without an increase," Hyatt said. "Most municipalities or power authorities raise rates every three or four years or so to keep up with inflation."

Village resident and former Trustee Diana Spenello attended the April 10 public hearing and asked board members what their goals are in setting up the budget.

"The whole purpose is to try and balance everything with revenues," Hyatt responded. "That's the big goal. If there is an overage, we need to find out why and if it's a one-time thing or something that will continue. Also, staying within our two percent cap from the state is a big goal."

Taking up most of the 45-minute hearing was a discussion prompted by questions from Spenello and some other residents on what might be done to grow the community and bring in more revenue. Hyatt said those possibilities are limited.

"We constantly talk about it," he noted. "There aren't many parcels in the village that will bring more business. You hear about possibilities from time to time and then they seem to go away." Hyatt added that talking to Schoharie County Director of Planning and Community Development Shane Nickle about revenue-enhancing possibilities would probably be a good idea.

Some residents who attended the April 10 hearing suggested that maybe offering incentives like temporary tax cuts for a new business could be a good idea.

"The whole thing with incentives is that when you go through a budget, there's not a whole lot to give," Hyatt said. "We would have to look at what we're going to gain by doing it."

He added that a multimillion dollar sewer improvement project in the Town of Richmondville could provide a little more revenue once it's operational and ties into the village sewer system for treatment. Town officials recently estimated that the project could go out to bid in the fall and be functional about a year after that.