Saratoga passes budget

The Saratoga Town Council passed its annual budget on third reading Tuesday night, approving $3.92 million in expenditures during the 2023-2024 budget year.

­­According to budget documents, the town anticipates receiving approximately $3.67 million in General Fund revenues, with nearly $2.19 million coming from taxes. Other major contributors to the total expected revenue include $699,000 listed as Contributions and Transfers, $261,650 listed as Miscellaneous Revenues and $357,600 listed as Intergovernmental Revenue. Contributions and Transfers covers monies received from various donations to town initiatives such as the animal shelter, recreation and park improvement donations, as well as grants received by the town and federal funds. Overall, the town approved a balanced budget that will spend the entirety of its anticipated general fund revenues.

Overall, law enforcement and town administration make up the largest expenditures in the budget, totaling $1.94 million. The largest expenditure from the general fund will be for the Saratoga Police Department, which is budgeted at $1.12 million. Of that amount, salaries and payroll make up $965,000 in expenditures, while general expenses are listed at $181,750. Town hall administration is another large piece of the budget, with $818,910 listed in anticipated expenditures. General expenses take up $540,383.60 of that amount while salaries and benefits are listed at $278,526.40.

The budget also reserves $867,490 for the town’s planning and streets departments. The town’s third-highest expenditure is the streets department, which is budgeted at $604,400. Salaries and payroll make up $382,200, while $222,200 is ­­budgeted as general expenses. Planning is budgeted at $263,090, with general expenses listed at $242,750 and payroll and salaries budgeted at $20,340.

Other items budgeted at more than $100,000 include the town’s community center, which is budgeted at $250,000 -- $185,000 of which is set aside for payroll and salaries. The town’s parks budget also comes in at more than $100,000, which lists general expenses of $153,600. Additionally, the recreation department’s general fund budget is set at $148,150, with $111,550 going to salaries and payroll.

Town resident Richard Hodges asked how the Council adjusted its figures to overcome a $1 million deficit during the budget’s first reading to balancing it in time for the final reading approval.

“You know, not a lot of things got cut,” Mayor Chuck Davis said.

Davis said the Council went into its impact funds and sixth-penny tax money and use it to free up funding for other portions of the budget. One of the main reasons for the initial deficit was wind energy impact funds that were available to the Council in previous years weren’t available to use for the new budget. Davis said the town has dipped into its reserves, spending $590,000. The town has approximately $7.5 million between its WYO-STAR accounts, impact money and other reserves.