Michael D'Onofrio

mcdonofrio@lohud.com

RAMAPO - Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence has proposed a cap-busting $102 million budget for 2017 that contains a 5 percent to 7 percent tax-rate hike, as well as funding to hire more than a dozen new police officers.

The tax-rate increase will depend on whether a home is in the unincorporated portion of the town or one of its villages, which receive various services from the town.

St. Lawrence presented his spending plan to the Town Board on Wednesday morning.

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The budget would set aside $42 million for the Police Department and provide funding for 15 new positions.

But St. Lawrence said the town faces numerous financial challenges.

He is forecasting a drop of approximately $700,000 in revenue if the Ramapo Central School District collects its own taxes. Right now, municipalities decide who collects school taxes, but a new state law would put the power to collect their taxes in school districts' hands. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has yet to sign the bill.

Stephen Walker, Ramapo schools' deputy superintendent, said the district could collect taxes more efficiently. Last year, collection charges tacked on approximately $900,000 to district taxes, which went to town coffers instead of classrooms.

"We also think that we can take on this work ourselves and for a substantially lower cost," Walker said.

Another cost for the town is the county collection of community college “charge-backs,” which are partial tuition payments on behalf of local community college students who attend out-of-county schools. The supervisor said the cost would reach $800,000 next year. Rockland County began using chargebacks in 2012 as it struggled to manage its ballooning deficit.

County Executive Ed Day included $1.8 million in savings from increasing collections of the charge-backs in his proposed 2017 budget. In 2016, the county recouped 50 percent of the potential charge-backs from the towns; Day’s budget looks to recoup 100 percent next year.

The Town Board agreed in September to exceed the state tax cap, which is 0.12 percent, St. Lawrence said.

“There is a reality on the costs that are coming down to us, and Ramapo Central is a big driver of that," St. Lawrence said.

Budget dates

Town Board budget workshops will be held at 8 p.m. Oct. 19 and 26.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at Town Hall at 8 p.m. Nov. 10.

Twitter: @mikedonofrio_