Medina village taxes up 3% but tax rate plunges from reassessments

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 April 2024 at 8:35 am

Rate drops from $21.16 to $13.97 after tax base grew by $100 million

MEDINA – The Village Board adopted a $7,678,256 budget for the general fund on Thursday that will increase the amount of taxes collected by 3.1 percent. However, the tax rate will plunge more than $7 – from $21.16 to $13.97 per $1,000 of assessed properties.

The towns of Shelby and Ridgeway, where the village is located, both completed town-wide reassessments in 2023 and those new values take effect in the 2024-25 village budget.

The tax base increased by $100.5 million, going from $178,984,667 to $279,494,874. That is a 56.2 percent increase.

The tax rate dropped 34.0 percent or by $7.19.

During a budget public hearing on April 8, the budget was at a 34.9 percent tax increase or up by $1,320,759. The Village Board and the department heads shaved $1.2 million from that to try to get to a “minimal amount,” said Medina Mayor Marguerite Sherman.

However, she said the board can only cut so much. The village will be looking for more revenues outside of the property tax. Medina has tried for years to get in increase in the local sales tax, but has been kept flat by the County Legislature since 2001.

“This board has had numerous discussions on the need to pursue additional funding sources while looking long-term on how to best to continue services while trying to keep the tax rate affordable,” Sherman said.

Overall spending in the general fund is at $7,678,256 – up $84,960 or by 1.1 percent. The water fund is up 4.1 percent or by $83,296 to $2,102,947. The sewer fund is down 3.1 percent or by $39,816 to $1,256,195.

Debbie Padoleski, retired village clerk and treasurer, was elected to the Village Board in March and started her term on April 1. She ran for the board partly due to the rising assessments in the village and potential for much higher tax bills.

Some residents will actually see lower tax bills with this village budget, depending on the percentage of increase in their reassessments, Padoleski said. But others will be paying more.

“While we were able to reduce the levy by $1.2 million from the proposed budget, our hands have been tied by several factors,” she said.

Union contracts push up labor costs, and Padoleski said the lack of an increase in the local sales tax strains the village budget. Medina gets $160,160 of the local sales tax total, which is expected to be near $25 million this year. That is less than 1 percent for Medina of the total in the county.

Padoleski also thinks the village isn’t properly treated by the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway with divvying up the tax burden at the town level. Village residents should be seeing more of a break in their town taxes, padoleski said.

Without some relief from the towns and county, Padoleski said the Village Board could face hard choices in the future about cutting some services.

“We are one step away from cutting services and while some of us are not yet ready to do that, I have been assured that we will continue to look for ways to cut costs, increase revenue and be open to different ways of doing business,” Padoleski said. “Our taxpayers need to be our main priority, always.”

Here are the village tax levies and tax rates in the past six budgets: