Board of Trustees

SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 Village of Ballston Spa Saratoga County Seat 66 FRONT STREET Ballston Spa, NY 12020 Phone: 518-885-5711 Fax: 518-885-0512 FY2027 Tentative Budget Executive Summary The hallmarks of the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 (“FY27”) Tentative Budget involve several important concepts designed to ensure a positive future for the Village of Ballston Spa while ensuring potential budgetary challenges related to economic events can be withstood without threatening the vitality of the Village. With that focus, I am proud again to put forth a balanced Tentative Budget for FY27, which continues to build on our capital planning, public safety, infrastructure advances, and quality of life enhancements that we outlined for FY26 and that make our Village of Friends special: • Our $12.5 million in capital planning continues in this budget, with a focus on parks, sidewalks, Village- owned buildings, and our water system being the FY27 central focuses; • It is a fully balanced budget that would raise taxes three percent beyond the State’s property tax cap, but which remains well below the rate of property value growth being experienced in both the Towns of Milton and Ballston; • Most salaries and wages for Village staff members, except those for Trustees, the Mayor, and the Police Department (due to the continuation of their contract negotiations) reflect increases by at least 2.5%; • Funding for business promotion, arts, community events, and additional staffing needed by our Village Hall, DPW, and others are centerpieces of this FY27 Tentative Budget; • Water and sewer rates are scheduled for a slower increase of 4.5% -- 1.25% beyond anticipated inflation -- as we continue water tower renovations and maintenance and maintain our strong sewer fund balance, with hopes to eliminate future water rate increases when Mill Town Centre and other development officially become Village water customers; • Some projects which were budgeted for but not completed in FY26 are reflected in FY27 alongside a rolling over of the budget allocation from 2026 that will end up in our A Fund’s Fund Balance to avoid double-taxation for such projects; • Funding by the Village for both local youth and seniors’ programs continues at strong levels; and • The Village continues to support our Ballston Spa Public Library as the Library Board works toward the next stages of capital improvements. TAX LEVY CHANGES This year, when evaluating the tax levy changes needed to continue capital planning – while ensuring the increases are spread out over time – a variety of approaches were considered to ensure a proper balance is achieved. If we had used the New York State property tax cap limits this year, the Village’s Town of Milton property owners (based on the 60.50% Milton equalization rate) would have seen about a 1.57% increase in taxes,  SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 while the Village’s Town of Ballston property owners (based on the 63.49% equalization rate) would have risen by 0.89%. A goal of mine during the capital planning is to never exceed a 5% tax-rate increase for any property owner during the planned five to six years of capital planning tax increases. As a result, the tax rate activity was favorable to exceed the tax cap by 3%. By doing so, the tax rates increase by 4.61% for Town of Milton taxpayers to $6.149596 per $1,000 of assessed value, and by 3.91% for Town of Ballston taxpayers to $5.859987 per $1,000. In the process, I also examine the rate of tax increase or decrease based on full value of properties across the Village. Last year, I discussed the trend for full-value taxation: $3.70 per $1,000 of full property values in FY26 vs. $3.93 per $1,000 of full value in FY25 and $4.51 per $1,000 in FY22. This year’s increase means just an increase to $3.72 per $1,000 of full value, meaning the taxation relative to real property values is increasing negligibly. It is a statistic that helps to show that relative to property values, Ballston Spa remains a very affordable Village in which to live and own property, especially considering the services residents receive. OTHER REVENUE NOTES Saratoga County Sales Tax revenue, our second-largest revenue source, actually saw a healthy increase compared to our FY26 projections. We understand that economic challenges in the State of New York could cause such revenue to be impacted in FY27, so projections were approached in a conservative manner. For water rates, I am again proposing a lower-than-expected increase to help us build a water tower reserve fund sufficient to renovate and maintain the three water towers in our system. With Mill Town Centre set to have Phase 1 development begin this year, the additional water revenue expected from that phase allows us to slow down such increases. We are hopeful that we will reach a point with that development and potential in-Village development to eliminate the need for increases over and above regular inflation. As such, for FY27, the increase on water rates that I propose is 4.5% (1.25% over inflation) to help us continue to build an annual reserve cushion that will be needed to pay down over $1.7 million in tower costs and annual maintenance. More information about this will be provided below. Similarly, I will again propose a sewer rate increase of the same percentage – 4.5%. With the arrival of the major DPW equipment purchase we began in 2022 nearly complete, our $1.1 million USDA loan will have payments due in FY27. Some of that cost is attributed to our sewer fund, meaning we need to continue to provide revenue for our sewer fund to maintain our strong sewer fund balance. Finally, with respect to the Fire Department’s lines, we have budgeted the first of five years of contractual revenue increases from both the Town of Ballston and Town of Milton. That additional funding will cover the first payments related to the new Pumper Truck in FY27, and it will allow us to boost our truck reserve fund in anticipation of the 2029 delivery of the new Ladder (Aerial) Truck which was ordered last year. The larger the reserve fund is when the truck is delivered, the less debt the Village will absorb since interest rates in three years could be much higher. I am proposing increasing FY27 funding for the Ballston Spa Fire Department to $135,000 to meet our Fire Chief’s request for major building renovations at especially Union Firehouse to resolve façade issues. The expected provision from the Village would have been $110,250 in FY27, so this increase is a one-time $24,750 increase to ensure the Village-owned buildings get their needed renovations without impacting the Towns’ payments for fire service. I will again close this section by including that the following amounts would be rolled from the A Fund’s fund balance into the revenue line for the FY27 Tentative Budget: 1) Pool Floor Rollover of $37,500; 2) Sidewalk Rollover of $130,000; 3) Events Rollover of $3,250; 4) Water Rollover of $100,000 (well generator purchase and installation); 5) Village Hall Renovations of $35,000 (retaining wall re-façading and vault infill), 6) $7,500 for the  SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 matching funds for the speed/street safety study; 7) $35,000 for Police payroll in anticipation of contract resolution and retro-pay attributable to FY26; and 8) Arts Rollover of $4,250 for proposed activities that did not take place in FY26 but are planned to take place in FY27. This totals $352,500 of fund balance commitment to the A Fund budget, which is around the average that had been proposed in the last two fiscal years (although there was no actual drawdown in either year due to strong revenues and lower-than-expected expenses in certain cases). SPENDING HIGHLIGHTS As we do annually, we again worked with our departments to determine appropriate FY27 spending based on trends from FY26 and earlier years. We again used the following principles to guide these discussions: 1) identifying over-spending or under-spending as of 1/31/2026; 2) discussing extra funding needed to cover issues like inflation causing premature exhaustion of budget funds; and 3) consideration of potential one-time spending needs either still to come at the end of FY26 or planned for FY27. This again is why projections do not always reflect just 50 percent more than the 1/31/2026 actual numbers. One key area that needs improvement to help protect the expectations and needs of the Village is staffing. I want to address this on several fronts. a) DPW/Water Department – As our water system continues to grow, we have been exploring re- creating a specific Water Department that operates more independently from the Department of Public Works. This is necessary because: 1) we have ballooned to 390 account holders who have missed sending in two consecutive water cards (out of about 2,500 accounts); and 2) we could see the addition of about 650 accounts in the next three years. In addition, we are working to modernize the water system, which will rely on grants. Those grant applications will require assistance in collecting data related to our system. We have moved one member of our DPW Staff to a more water-focused position as we begin this process, and we are hiring an additional staff member to cover DPW’s needs. b) Building Department – With the arrival of the new Zoning Code later this year, it is my intent to seek the creation of a full-time Building Inspector/Code Enforcement position who will also assist with the new Water Department functions discussed above. This will add an additional health-care benefits burden on the Village. As a result, we are reducing our full-time positions in our Clerk/Treasurer Departments by one to offset that change. Fortifying our Building Department is crucial to ensure building safety, adherence to the new Code, and proper development moving forward. c) Village Hall (Clerk/Treasurer) – As stated above, we are reducing full-time positions by one. We originally planned on hiring a new Deputy Clerk/Deputy Treasurer for about 30 hours per week to help shoulder the workflow in these departments. However, as I completed the Tentative Budget, our Village Clerk requested additional help, as we have received 26 Freedom of Information Act document requests in less than three months – 15 of them from two people alone, with a promise of more to come. Each such request takes hours to fulfill, and the amount of resources they drain from our Village Hall staff is large. Due to the weight of those requests, I am seeking a second Deputy Treasurer/Deputy Clerk for 20 hours per week. d) Police Department – We are currently contemplating the best way to manage future staffing during contract negotiations with the Police Department. There are questions concerning the handling of lifetime health benefits for full-time officers that could affect the composition of the Department moving forward and the approach related to budgeting. In the meantime, a Parking Enforcement Officer will be hired to enforce our parking regulations that are now in place in our new Parking Code and Parking Schedule.  SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 e) Library – By request of the Librarian and the Library Board, we are enhancing one of our Library Clerks to the role of Library Assistant with a focus on taking on more specialized roles, like youth and teen programming. Retirement benefit cost uncertainties and State mandates continue to cause concerns moving forward. These have escalated categories like Engineering, Retirement funding, Health Care, and more. Those costs continue to far outpace the likely tax cap rates over the next few years. With minimum wage again increasing on January 1, 2026, minimum wage effects created by State law continue to force us to make changes to many of our pay rates, but overall, all salaries and hourly wages were increased by at least 2.5%, with the exception of the Board of Trustees and the Mayor. The increases were largest (on a percentage basis) for Court staff, Library staff, our Crossing Guards, and a couple of other isolated cases due to what department heads and I felt were improper rates when comparing the realities of job descriptions, comparable positions outside the Village, and/or minimum wage effects. For the fourth year, I am again proposing no pay raise for the Mayor or the Board of Trustees, as we need to show by example that we are more concerned about funding community-based programs than we are about our own minor raises. We look to continue enhancements to our parks after our great success with Wiswall Park in 2025. I will detail this more below. Our Park & Tree Board is working alongside our DPW leadership to determine how to best remedy tree issues throughout the Village and to maximize the Tree Grant from New York State that we are looking to utilize over the next year. SIDEWALKS In FY26, the Village secured funding for sidewalk repairs, replacements, and installations totaling $330,000 – including $80,000 from the CHPE underground wire project for use on Hyde Blvd. and East High St., and $250,000 through Congressman Tonko’s efforts federally. When added to the $170,000 proposed for sidewalk funding for FY27, the Village will have $500,000 of sidewalk money to utilize in FY27 for reimbursements and through other programs that will be put forth over the next year. In addition, the Village is removing several trees along Milton Ave.’s western sidewalk area again and replacing the heaved sidewalk panels as a result. In FY27, they will focus on the eastern side of Milton Ave. CAPITAL PLANNING In FY26, after analyzing the Village’s needs for building repairs/replacement, infrastructure concerns, fire truck needs, and issues that are continuously raised by residents over the last year with the help of our consultants, we undertook a Capital Plan related to over $12.5 million to undertake major steps in revitalizing aging infrastructure and renewing the Village’s buildings and resources. To achieve this, I proposed respectful annual property tax increases in excess of the tax cap for 5 to 6 years to afford all of the items. In FY26, we will be moving the originally proposed $40,866 of excess tax revenue into capital funding, and I am proposing moving an additional $64,415 in FY27 – totaling an additional $105,281 – into that fund. As a result, we will already have reserved over $146,000 in capital plan funding to use in FY27. The goal remains to get an annual set-aside of $275,000 to $300,000 per year to ensure we can afford the debt that will be needed to ensure the capital plan is done in a way that does not negatively affect regular Village operations. As a reminder, here is what the original approach was from the FY26 Budget: “To show this, here is the breakdown of anticipated costs and mechanisms to pay for them:  SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 $12,500,000 Total Capital Plan (See Items Below): Fund Balance Usage: 2,500,000 Water Tower Money from Rates: 1,750,000 Truck Debt Reserve by Village & BSFD: 3,500,000 Sidewalk Loan Pool from Fund Bal.: - 500,000 Remaining Needs: $ 4,250,000 We are told frequently that the New York State Comptroller is not in favor of municipalities maintaining fund balances of a large percentage compared to their annual budgets. As a result, our over $5 million fund balance can be utilized partially to help offset the need for long-term debt. In addition, we have already crafted a 30-year plan using water rates to revitalize and maintain our three water towers. Our work with the Fire Department and the Town of Ballston will help the Village cover the excess debt needed to pay for these expensive trucks. Finally, the Sidewalk Loan Pool would always be a receivable for the Village via tax bills, with interest being paid to help fortify the funding and cover administrative expenses. That leaves about $4,250,000 of needed money to cover the remainder of the capital plan needs. In a worst-case scenario, the Village would have to achieve this funding through property taxes over likely 25 years (up to 30 years potentially). At 4.25% interest annually, payments at 25 years would be $276,240 per year – which would be achieved over six years of 2 to 2.5% tax increases that would be placed in a capital reserve fund like [FY26’s] proposed $40,866. Yet, the Village has access potentially to several grants (such as a recently announced NYS Park grant that I asked our Park & Tree Board and Studio A to work on for Kelley Park and Iron Spring Park upgrades). We also may have a less-expensive Court renovation if we perform a sale/leaseback of 30 Bath Street. In other words, the Village will do everything possible to help lower the “Remaining Needs” by seeking grant assistance, legislative assistance, and using smart fiscal devices to reduce taxpayer exposure. Finally, redevelopment of one or all of the Village’s current major “blight” sites (the former Angelica, Maplewood Manor, and Rickett’s sites) would help provide additional tax base that would offset potential tax rate increases.” I remain committed to this Capital Plan, and I want to update each of the components below. --- $4,000,000 DPW Garage Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Spring 2026 to Spring 2027 Actual Timeframe: Phase 1 (Malta Ave.) – 2026; Phase 2 (Charlton St.) – 2027 After receiving quotes well in excess of our original budget from two engineering firms, we have turned to Laberge Engineering to help us determine a budget-sensitive way of improving our DPW Garage situation. The approach that is being worked on is to build a new passive-use storage facility at the Village’s property on Malta Ave. in the Town of Malta, and then demolish the existing DPW Garage on Charlton St. and replace it with a new fully-functioning DPW Garage. Laberge believes we can remain inside our budget of $4.0 to $4.5 million if we manage the process in this way. We have begun discussing this approach with the Town of Malta and would like to progress this to be able to perform the Phase 1 Malta Ave. portion in 2026. --- $3,500,000 Fire Trucks  SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Summer 2025 and Summer 2028 Actual Timeframe: Pumper Received Late 2025; Ladder (Aerial) Anticipated Mid-2029 The good news is that we have received the Pumper Truck ordered in late 2022 and are ready to close on our USDA loan for the $935,000 truck very soon. The bad news is that the Ladder (Aerial) Truck is on order but delayed until mid-2029 most likely. However, after work with the Towns of Milton and Ballston, we believe that our Fire Truck Reserve account will be close to $1 million by the time the Ladder is delivered (currently, it stands at about $250,000). If that is the case, we believe the Village is in a good spot to be able to pay down the debt without needing to take any extreme measures. We appreciate our partners in the Towns for working with us to ensure we can cover these major capital expenses. --- $1,750,000 John St. Tower plus Two Other Water Tower Renovations Originally Anticipated Timeframe: John St. Interior, April & May 2025; Exterior, Fall 2025 or Spring 2026; Rowland St. & Colonial Hills Towers, 2026 to 2027 Actual Timeframe: John St. Interior Complete Summer 2025; Exterior, Summer 2026; Rowland St. & Colonial Hills Towers, 2027 to 2028 We continue working with the cellular carriers to move the cellular equipment on John St. Tower to the new monopole that will be built this Spring next to John St. Tower. That has delayed the exterior repainting a bit. But we anticipate the work to be completed in 2026. Once that work is complete, we will focus on the other two towers to help elongate their useful lives. Last year’s request to increase water and sewer rates by 6.5% (3.25% in excess of inflation) was an important step in beginning to build reserve funding for the restoration and maintenance needed for these towers. Originally, I had planned to request a 6% increase in FY27 on those rates, but with the likelihood of Phase 1 of Mill Town Centre coming online in 2027, a slower increase path is being proposed – 4.5% (1.25% over expected inflation) to help build the reserve account accordingly. --- $1,000,000 Sidewalk Loan Pool/Reimbursement Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Five Years (April 2026 to March 2031) Actual Timeframe: Continuing Through at Least March 2031 As part of the plan to utilize the Village's 11-year paving schedule to work with property owners to repair deteriorated sidewalks or install sidewalks in neighborhoods that have them, we need to make sure we have the financial resources in place to provide the 50% reimbursements we approved in 2024, and to be able to offer the other 50% as revolving loans that would be placed on residents' tax bills (with a reasonable interest rate over 10- 12 years). Our sidewalks pool of funds will be at $500,000 from CHPE money, federal funding, and Village budgeting in FY27, which is where we want the funding to be. We are still working on the Loan Pool concept and will hopefully complete this in the coming months to help utilize our paving schedule to force the replacement of inferior sidewalks soon.  SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 --- $750,000 Village Hall Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Multiple Phases (Summer 2025, Likely Through Fall 2027) Actual Timeframe: Summer 2026, Likely Through Fall 2028 There remain several phases of renovations needed at our Village Office building at 66 Front Street. We are still planning to get the retaining wall repairs and underground vault infill projects done. In addition, we are attempting to get the exterior visible walls repainted and will utilize some of the capital plan funds discussed above to pay for this work. We are looking to renovate the first floor to take better advantage of space needs in the heart of our executive operations center. The additional work could vary and would require either grants or loans, which we have begun work on with our grant administrator. --- $500,000 Court Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Fall 2025 to Spring 2026 Actual Timeframe: 2026 Procurement; Spring 2027 Final Renovations After evaluating 30 Bath St. renovation costs for the existing Court area, we have begun searching for alternative locations for the Village Court. Our recent appraisal for 30 Bath St. was about $260,000, meaning we have about $760,000 to spend on a new location and renovations. We are hoping to complete this process in the next 12 months to ensure we have a much better location for our Court staff moving forward. --- $500,000 Library Construction Costs (Future Phase Funds) Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Fall 2025 to Spring 2028 Actual Timeframe: Asbestos Removal Done; Other Phases Through Spring 2028 The Village worked with the Library Board to ensure asbestos removal was performed in 2025 to help make future phases of their own Capital Plan flow much more easily. Future work will involve roof repairs, accessibility improvements, and much more. The Village remains ready to assist with matching funds and other needs for the Library to continue to improve. --- $375,000 Kelley Park and Iron Spring Park Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Spring 2026 to Fall 2027 Actual Timeframe: Same We are working with Studio A to determine the potential costs for the plan to renovate and improve Iron Spring  SETTLED IN 1771 INCORPORATED IN 1807 Park in 2026, and we are looking to paint the Kelley Park pickleball courts and install Town of Milton-donated playground equipment (later in the year) – all renovations would use money already set aside (or to be set aside in FY27) for Capital Plan purposes. Physical work at Iron Spring Park would potentially be performed in late September through November 2026. We are also seeking grants to improve Kelley Park’s layout and safety features over the next two years. This would include moving the Dog Park, creating better-defined trails, installing safety features like call boxes, improving the Pavilion, and more. --- $125,000 Pool Surface Originally Anticipated Timeframe: Fall 2026 Actual Timeframe: Early 2027 The Village continues to set aside funds for this major project. However, Senator Tedisco is currently working on seeking State funding to help us complete the funding gap for this project. We are hopeful that the surface can be improved before 2026 swim season begins with some minor restoration efforts before a more major restoration occurs with full funding in the next year. CONCLUSION Our fiscal health after a majority of Fiscal Year 2026 being completed remains strong, but my eyes are on the future beyond just FY27 to ensure our Village of Friends can sustain the operations you rely on from the Village. With the approaches taken in this Tentative Budget, we are seeing the desire to create a safer, more functional, visually appealing community come into focus in ways that I believe our residents and friends value daily. As I said last year, “With a combination of overall budget conservatism and hard work to secure additional funding from multiple new sources, we are in a tremendous position to ensure Ballston Spa will continue to improve and thrive – and the Tentative Budget sets the stage for this important moment faced by our Village.” Thank you. - Mayor Frank S. Rossi, II