GLOVERSVILLE - City officials added about $3,000 to projected revenues for the 2010 budget at a budget session Thursday.

Finance Commissioner Bruce Van Genderen met with Common Council members to review all the projected revenues for the city's 2010 budget. Revenues are expected to amount to about $13.7 million, about $1.4 million less than projected expenses.

The property tax rate is proposed to increase about 8.5 percent, generating about $7 million in revenue. Raising the property tax rate to the constitutional limit - about 15 percent - would generate about $500,000 more in revenue, Van Genderen said.

One of the largest sources of revenue apart from property taxes is from sales tax, which Van Genderen budgeted at $2 million. Van Genderen said he did not include any projected sales tax revenue from the construction of the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter because he wanted to take a conservative approach.

Third Ward Councilman James Robinson, 5th Ward Councilman Matthew Myers and 1st Ward Councilwoman Robin Wentworth agreed.

"Hopefully we will collect more than that, but I think it's best to be safe," Myers said.

Van Genderen agreed.

"This is a conservative approach. I have no objection to being conservative," he said.

Van Genderen said if construction for the center gets under way next spring, the city could realize some sales tax revenue from the purchase of building materials. That could amount to about $100,000 in additional revenue, he said.

"This is very optimistic," Van Genderen said. "I have no idea what materials would be, but from what I understand the cost [to build] could be around $10 [million] or $12 million. We would see about $100,00 of that."

Van Genderen said if the store opens in early 2011, the city would begin to see a significant increase in revenue. The entire sales tax revenue generated from the store being open for one year would amount to about $3.2 million, Van Genderen said. That includes the share of taxes going to the state and county.

Ultimately the city would see about $800,000 in revenue from a year of operations, Van Genderen said.

Kayleigh Karutis covers Gloversville news. She can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com