SARATOGA SPRINGS —With one eye on the city’s current annual spending plan of approximately $61.3 million and another on the upcoming sessions to determine financial allocations for 2025, Saratoga Springs Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi has initiated a discussion detailing the yearly revenue and expense practice.
“Since we’re just getting into the start of the budget season, I thought I would explain how some of the finances work for our city,” Commissioner Sanghvi said.
“One of the main sources of revenue for our city is property tax – a fixed source of income; sales tax – which is variable and goes up and down with the economy; mortgage tax – which is highly variable, and occupancy tax – which is dependent on the number of rooms we have in the city,” she said. Additional income revenues come from ambulance transport fees, various city fees, and federal and state aid.
The total annual revenues – anticipated at $61.3 million this year – have increased in recent years, rising from $41.3 million received in 2020 to $56.1 million received in 2023.
Sales Tax
“A large part of this increase is sales tax, (increasing) from about $11 million in 2020 to close to $19.5 million today,” Sanghvi said. The 7% sales tax rate is divided in this way: 4% goes to the state, 1.5% goes to Saratoga County, and 1.5% to the city of Saratoga Springs.
Sales tax revenue in 2004 is anticipated at $19.5 million, up $1.1 million from 2023.
Real Property Tax and Mortgage Tax
Real property tax is collected quarterly. “We have about 247 parcels (amounting to about $3.1 million) that are delinquent,” the commissioner said. “We’ve been working tirelessly to get those monies back, but overall we have more than 95% rate of the paying of property taxes. We are doing much better than some other places.”
According to an article published in 2022 by the National Association of Realtors, the average tax delinquency rate in New York State was 9% (or 91% paid), with a handful of states – Mississippi, Delaware, New Jersey and Massachusetts among them, climbing higher than 10% (less than 90% paid).
Saratoga Springs typically collects just over $17 million annually in real property taxes.
Mortgage Tax revenue in the city peaked at about $2.1 million in 2021 and 2022, slid down to $1.7 million in 2023 and is anticipated to be $1.5 million this year.
Hotel Occupancy Tax
“Hotel occupancy has gone up significantly since 2021 from $587,00 to $850,000,” Sanghvi said. “This is 6% occupancy tax of which the City Center gets 2%, Discover Saratoga gets 2%, the county gets 1% and we (the city of Saratoga Springs) get 1%.”
Other Fees
In 2022, the city collected just under $1.8 million in ambulance transport fees. After a second ambulance was added in late 2022, nearly $2.2 million was collected the following year with an estimated $2.3 million budgeted in 2024. Other city fees vary depending on demand and include items such as licenses, permits and departmental fees, and typically bring in about $2.8 million annually.
Federal and State Aid varies each year. State Aid has returned roughly $4.5 – $5.5 million each year over the past handful of years; Federal Aid has varied from $4 million each in 2021 and 2022, to $500,000 in 2023 and an anticipated $1.2 million in 2024. This aid includes VLT, CHIPS, and revenue sharing via the state, and Federal FEMA and ARPA funds – the latter of which accounts for the bump in aid in 2021 and 2022.
Where Does The
Money Go?
“So, we’re making all this money, where does all the money go?” Sanghvi said. “Our expenses have gone up from $44 million (in 2020) to $61 million (currently) – a significant rise in expenses. Most of it is personnel,” she said, pointing to an increase in personnel costs from under $25 million in 2020 to over $33 million in 2024. “A large chunk of it is in Public Safety, but other departments have also seen increases.”
Hospitalization rates and benefits, as well as Police and Fire Department retirement costs have also increased. “It’s not just that we have more people, the rates have also gone up, and this is nationwide.”
The cost of liability insurance has increased from $900,000 in 2020 to $2 million this year, an increase, the commissioner said, largely due to costs related to the attorney general’s investigation, ongoing litigation, and the aftermath renovation of the 2018 City Hall fire. Utility costs are also on the rise nationwide. “There’s an increase in the price of energy but we are working on ways to lower utilities and are constantly looking at Green opportunities and grants to try and lower costs.”
The recent past has seen a growth in both revenues and expenses, as well as the addition of new services Sanghvi said. Among those added services: the city’s new east side fire station (an $8.6 million Capital Expense); Veteran’s Memorial Park (which cost more than $850,000), and addressing the city’s homelessness issue, which counts a combined cost of about $500,000 in funding related to the RISE Adelphi street shelter, Shelters of Saratoga, and the homeless court.
