Schenectady

Property taxes in Schenectady County would remain unchanged under a $318.6 million budget proposal for 2017 introduced by County Manager Kathleen Rooney on Monday.

The spending plan banks on conservative estimates of the money Rooney said she expects to flow into county coffers from the $330 million Rivers Casino that is currently being built and expected to open early next year.

The money, including a payment for being the host-county for the casino, will also be used to reduce debt and save the county nearly $1 million in interest expenses, Rooney said during a presentation to the legislature.

She also promised that 100 percent of the casino revenue, somewhere between $3 million and $4 million from next year, would go directly to offset the 2018 property tax levy.

Rooney told lawmakers and the small crowd in the county chambers that the first year of casino money will be prorated from March, which is around the time the casino is expected to open. Gaming will operate the $330 million gambling hall, the main attraction of a $480 million mixed-use riverfront project called Rivers Casino & Resort at Mohawk Habor that will also feature a marina, two banks and condos.

A Rush Street executive told the Times Union over the summer the casino is scheduled to open in February.

"We've saved $1 million in interest cost and have a zero percent tax increase," said Rooney.

The budget also allocates start-up money to launch the Schenectady County Tourism and Convention Bureau, which would ultimately be sustained by raising the hotel/motel tax from 4- to 5-percent.

The county anticipates collecting more sales tax and mortgage recording tax revenues next year but is scheduled to make $35 million in Medicaid payments, the largest single payout in the spending plan.

There are four budget review sessions scheduled starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

A public hearing on the proposed budget will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 with an adoption vote the next night, Oct. 18.

In 2015, county legislators adopted a $307.85 million budget that raised property taxes by 1.5 percent. For a home assessed at $153,000, the median value in the county, taxes rose by $15.68 under the 2016 budget, an amount homeowners got back from the state because the spending plan came in under the state tax cap.

Last week, Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy unveiled a nearly $84 million budget with a $30.12 tax levy that calls for bringing down property taxes in the Electric City by 3.26 percent.

Like the county, the casino cash the city expects to receive is the major reason for the reduction in property taxes, which City Council President Leesa Perazzo and several of her colleagues on the panel say they hope to get closer to a 5 percent during the budget review process, which begins Tuesday.

pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson