Tax levy would rise 6.46% in Supervisor’s first-round draft
by Robert Lynch; September 29, 2026
For the second straight year, taxpayers would shoulder about a six-and-a-half percent greater burden to underwrite town services under a 2027 budget plan unveiled last week by Enfield Supervisor Stephanie Redmond.
And for the second time in three years, Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins has succeeded in bargaining for his men a higher raise in pay than Redmond had first proposed. Add to that repetition, one Councilperson’s repeated failure—at least initially—to elevate the Enfield Town Justice’s salary to a level that’s in his words less “embarrassing.”
Supervisor Redmond, joined by Town Bookkeeper Blixy Taetzsch, unveiled Enfield’s 2027 Tentative Budget during a two-hour presentation to the Town Board September 23. During that session, the board tinkered with a few line items, approved the larger Highway Department raises, dismissed the upper adjustment in Justice pay, but left most of the spending and revenue lines intact. Members adjourned further discussions until the board’s next regular meeting, October 14.
As presented by the Supervisor, the Tentative Budget would raise next year’s property tax levy by 6.46 percent, a percentage subject to change.
“I did a lot of cutting,” Redmond admitted as she launched into last Wednesday’s budget presentation.
Indeed she did cut. Two weeks earlier, in an offhand remark during the September 9 board meeting, Redmond had said that had all departmental requests been granted, the tax levy would have risen between 16 and 16.5 percent.
“I think it is a fairly frugal budget,” this writer, Councilperson Robert Lynch, summarized the tentative budget later during the September 23 meeting.
General and Highway Funds combined, the Tentative 2027 Enfield Town Budget would total $2.941,833. (Fire protection services are now budgeted separately.) Spending would rise from that of the current year by $169,118, or 6.1 percent. Most of the increase comes in the Highway Department accounts. It may be the first time Enfield Highway appropriations have topped $2 Million.
Aside from a disagreement, albeit short and civil, over the salary increase for Town Justice Heather Knutson-King and her court clerk, Enfield’s five Town Board members found little in the Redmond-Taetzsch collaborative budget to complain about last Wednesday. The board could have chosen to hold a second budget workshop on September 30, but chose not to.
When members reconvene October 14, they’ll likely elevate the Tentative Budget to Preliminary Budget status, perhaps after making additional, minor amendments. They’ve set a Public Hearing on the budget for October 28.
One year ago, the 2026 Enfield Town Budget also carried a tax levy increase of about 6.5 percent. Both the 2026 and tentative 2027 budgets have raised—or would raise—the tax levy above the (penalty-free) New York State tax cap. The tentative 2027 levy would rise to about double the state-established Enfield cap of 3.11 percent, Taetzsch reported.
That, however, will not pose a legal impediment. The Town Board voted in July to override the state cap, with Lynch the only dissenter in that vote.
Supervisor Redmond’s Tentative Budget had initially proposed granting almost all Town employees three percent raises, elected leaders included. Redmond’s own, part-time salary would rise from $27,865 to $28,701. Each Town Councilperson would see pay rise by $120 to $4,132.
Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins, Enfield’s highest-paid employee, would earn $2,558 more in 2027, his salary rising to $87,832. Rollins’ bargained raises for his subordinates did not include raising his own pay.
The only exception to Redmond’s across-the-board three-percent raise policy was a four percent raise proposed for Town Clerk Mary Cornell. The Supervisor explained that her exception arose from Cornell’s planned assumption of some responsibilities now performed by her deputy. A proposed drop in deputy’s pay would more than compensate for the clerk’s adjustment. Clerk Cornell would earn $42,848 annually in Redmond’s proposed budget.
“I feel like the guys should get five percent,” Superintendent Rollins stated as the horse trading over increased raises for Highway Department staff began.
Five full-time employees work under Rollins’ direction. One of those five resigned recently, although the superintendent said it was not because of inadequate pay.
“Three percent: Is it enough to retain them?” Councilperson Lynch asked about those in Highway. Truck drivers with CDL licenses are known to be in high demand.
“I feel that if we stick to three percent it makes it fair for everyone,” Redmond reasoned, the Supervisor reluctant to grant exceptions. Taxpayers are reportedly “upset that we’ve had increases every year,” the Supervisor pleaded. “We’re struggling to keep it down,” she said of the tax levy.
“The cost of living is going up so much for people,” Councilperson Lynch countered. “Can’t we find a way?”
A way was found.
“If we could, if you would, I would drop the ‘materials’ (budget line) if you would give the guys five percent,” Rollins proposed.
Taetzsch calculated that increasing Highway Department workers raises from three to five percent would cost an additional $6,500. On Lynch’s motion, the Town Board reduced Rollins’ $231,000 materials line sufficiently to grant the higher employee raises. Redmond rationalized the exception as a dollar-for-dollar trade-off.
Two years ago, in Enfield horse-trading’s most memorable moment, Rollins had successfully bargained to increase his own pay and that for his men from five to ten percent, promising in part to resume mowing Town cemeteries.
But the Town Justice and her clerk fared less successfully in their pay quest this past week.
One year ago, Town Justice Heather Knutsen-King and her court clerk were earning $16,000. The Justice asked for a raise to $18,000. The Supervisor had only recommended a three percent raise to $16,480. And the Town Board’s majority subsequently rejected Lynch’s appeal to strike a compromise at $17,000 for each office.
This year, Knutsen-King’s request was more modest, yet still above what Redmond had penciled in. The Justice had sought $17,500 for the clerk and for herself. It would have meant raises of 6.19 percent, more than twice that of Redmond’s blanket benchmark. Lynch moved an amendment September 23 to grant the $17,500. At stake that night was just $1,052, total. Nevertheless, the motion failed for lack of a second.
As it stands now, the Justice and her court clerk would each earn $16,974.
“I think the Justice is woefully underpaid,’ this writer said in defense of granting Knutsen-King’s appeal. “It’s incredible, it’s embarrassing how little that we pay our Town Justice, a person who has to be knowledgeable of the law. It just can’t be somebody who’s pulled in off the street. It has to be somebody’s who’s intelligent; who’s dedicated. And we’re paying them very, very little for what they do.”
The comparison was drawn between the proposed $28,701 Supervisor’s salary and that of the Justice, an amount less than three-fifths the Supervisor’s earnings.
“And they’re (the Justice and court clerk) fairly inexperienced compared to the people you’re comparing them to,” Councilperson Jude Lemke responded.
Knutsen-King, Lemke maintained, had little experience when she entered office in early-2024. “You’re comparing them to people who’ve had years of experience,” the Councilperson argued.
Justice Knutsen-King is finishing the third year of her first, four-year term. Stephanie Redmond’s been Enfield Supervisor since 2021.
”I guess I’m a minority of one on that issue,” Lynch conceded. He said he may resubmit the justice pay initiative come October.
****
Enfield’s two-hour budget deliberations left many dangling loose ends:
Cable TV Talks: A surprise of sorts arose when Councilperson Lemke pointed out that the budget hadn’t accounted for planned cable franchise fee revenue. Such fees have never been assessed in Enfield before, but stand possible under a new cable franchise agreement with Haefele Connect, still under negotiation.
“Question: Do we have a contract now?” Lynch asked.
“Well, I think they’ve reached agreement now and are ready to sign,” Redmond answered. “We don’t have a finalized contract signed,” she admitted.
Two years ago, the Town retained a Pittsburgh lawyer to negotiate with Haefele. Board members huddled briefly during their August 12 meeting for a private conference with the attorney. But some on the board stood unaware last Wednesday that settlement stood imminent.
Lemke projected that a franchise fee—legally limited to five percent of monthly bills—could bring the town $22,000 to $24,000 annually. She suggested a $20,000 budget add-on, one which could correspondently cut the property tax increase by a percentage point.
That said, Haefele could still pass-on the franchise tax to its cable TV—and only its TV—subscribers in full, and to a dwindling number of Enfield customers at that. They now number no more than several hundred.
Insurance: One year ago, the Town Board had signaled its intent to migrate all Highway Department employees, including the Superintendent, to a lower-cost “Platinum” health care plan, and at the same time establish a separate Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) on the side so that workers wouldn’t face financial penalty.
But it won’t happen as fast as first planned. Board members at their meeting concluded that mid-September left too little time to make the changes. Expect them for 2028. Meanwhile, the Town’s health insurance premiums will rise next year by 14.67 percent, Taetzsch calculates. Despite questions as to whether the percentage projection may be too low, the bookkeeper insisted her numbers are good.
Equipment: Unlike one year ago when controversy erupted over Superintendent Rollins’ proposed purchase of a $165,000 mower-tractor, a machine that Rollins recently bought for a much-lower price, this coming year’s equipment purchase, that of a replacement “broom tractor,” an estimated $90,000 investment, drew little attention.
Yet Rollins signaled possible trouble ahead. “We’re having transmission problems with the loader,” he reported. The loader, valued new at $230,000, was, itself, part of a contentious equipment trade-in package in 2023. It was planned to be swapped off in 2029. But its replacement may require acquisition sooner.
Fuel: Whether the product of optimism, good planning, or just sheer luck, Redmond’s Tentative Budget projects no increase in spending for Highway Department diesel fuel . The budget line for diesel and gas would remain fixed at $75,000. Compare that with the Tompkins County Legislature’s recent decision to pump as much as $100,000 into this year’s petroleum budget.
That said, keeping the line item for fuel unchanged in this era of overseas wars and volatile oil markets becomes a gamble at best.
Even though fuel spending through August had consumed only 54 percent of Enfield’s budgeted amount, Rollins cautioned, “We got a lot of runnin’ to do through the end of the year.” And he reminded the Town Board, “You’re looking at 300 bucks a day (in diesel) for a truck.”
###