Cooperstown Village Board of Trustees Adopts Overall $9M Balanced Budget

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN

At its April 27 regular meeting, the Village of Cooperstown Board of Trustees unanimously voted to adopt its 2026-2027 budget totaling $9,059,499.00 across its general, water, sewer, and trust funds as well as the trolley enterprise fund. The budget is a decrease from the adopted $11,554,408.00 last year, largely attributed to a reduction in debt service obligations and calculations in grants.

The estimated tax levy will be $1,864,182.00, with a tax rate per thousand dollars of assessed property value of approximately $5.41, up from $5.22 last year. The levy represents only around 32.5 percent of the total general fund budget, with the rest coming from a mix of sources including state aid, sales tax, fees and other sources. The levy had previously been around $1,800,000.00 for several years.

In a “Village Voices” newsletter, Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh lauded that the budget was balanced.

The largest percentage of appropriations, 63 percent, is for the general fund and totals $5,669,760.00. The fund covers a wide range of costs, from police and parks to streets improvement and snow removal. Some notable expenses include a line nominally for a $450,000.00 for a Cooperstown Fire Department pumper truck, which will actually be put into reserves for a later vehicle purchase, and an over $100,000.00 increase in group health insurance costs, an approximately 31 percent increase.

Tillapaugh told AllOtsego the village is “not immune” to rising healthcare costs across the country.

“All the costs have gone up in our American healthcare system,” she said.

“It’s 31 years old,” Tillapaugh said of the old pumper truck. However, during the budget process, members of the Fire Department urged for a new rescue truck instead, which can run as much as $2 million and is more frequently used, Tillapaugh explained.

So by this time next year, “450 [thousand] will have stayed in reserve, because we won’t have purchased” the pumper truck. Purchasing new fire equipment can often take years amidst a national shortage.

The Police Department budget has slightly declined, in part as a result of fewer equipment expenditures and personnel changes. While the village is pursuing several street improvement projects, they make up a far smaller portion of the budget than last year.

Other appropriations are to: sewer, 18 percent; water, 18 percent; trolley, 1 percent; and some left over to trust and agency fund. The trolley fund is an “enterprise” fund designed to fund itself through fares.

The budget includes a $125,000.00 contingency for unexpected costs.

Tillapaugh explained a fluctuation in the general fund total from last year as being the result of the speed of grant receipt. The village had originally accounted for the money, “but we didn’t get a signed contract from the Department of State until September 2025.” She said in her experience, “I’ve never seen a grant come that we’ve gotten through the state that we don’t have to fund up front in some way, and then be reimbursed.”

The village has been developing the budget since early this year, reviewing details in board committee meetings.