After a public hearing attended by no members of the public Monday, the Fulton County Board of Supervisors adopted the county’s $116.9 million budget for 2023. It includes an average county property tax rate of $9.98 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
Year-over-year spending is up 17.2%, but so are anticipated revenues, with an additional $12.1 million expected from an $8.2 million increase in state and federal aid, about $2 million more in anticipated sales tax and the rest coming from other increases.
The 2023 budget cuts the average property tax rate for the 10 towns and two cities in Fulton County by an average of 6.38%, although the total property tax levy decrease is not equally shared among each municipality.
Last week, the board voted to lower the county’s total property tax levy by $1.65 million, reducing it from $30.37 million in 2022 down to $28.72 million.
Johnstown 3rd Ward Supervisor John “Jack” Callery proposed the decrease citing the increased cost of living caused by inflation, particularly in the case of gasoline prices.
Four municipalities received a combined 73.6% of the property tax levy cut with the town of Johnstown receiving 27.7% of the cut — equal to $457,563. The city of Johnstown received 19.4% of the tax cut — equal to $320,176. County property taxes in Gloversville were reduced by $224,831, worth 13.6% of the tax cut, and the town of Perth received 12.9% of the tax cut, a reduction of $212,601.
The towns of Northampton and Oppenheim both saw property tax levy increases despite the overall reduction, due to falling equalization rates in each municipality.
Oppenheim’s total county property tax levy increased by $25,066 and Northampton’s increased by $22,035.
