City Manager Greg Usry presented the proposed budget for 2024 at the Nov. 8 City Council meeting. The budget calls for a tax rate increase of 2.57 percent. Discussion of the budget will continue at the Council’s Dec. 6 meeting, and public input is encouraged and welcomed.

In the tentative budget, General Government expenses would increase by 17 percent, Recreation by 18.6 percent, Police Department by 13 percent, Fire Department by 11 percent, and the Rye Free Reading Room by 1.8 percent. Department of Public Works expense, on the other hand, would decrease by 12.3 percent.

Salaries plus benefits for 2024 will be $3.5 million, or 11.2 percent higher than the 2023 estimate. The City is budgeting conservatively. It presumes, for example, that all open positions will be filled in 2024.

Spending is budgeted at $50.9 million, and revenues at $47.5 million. Any surplus in the General Fund Balance will be used to pay for Capital Expenditures, miscellaneous Equipment, and more.

Non-property tax revenues are budgeted at $17.4 million, 8.1 percent lower than the 2023 estimate. Licenses and permits alone are forecast to decrease 22.3 percent.

The Council will vote on the 2024 budget at its final meeting of the year, Dec. 20.

The City’s 2004 Citizen’s Budget Report is available on the City website, ryeny.gov, and appears on page A14 of the Dec. 1 Rye Record.