Monroe County Executive Adam Bello has introduced his 2021 county budget, the first in the area to be released under COVID-19 and to face the pandemic’s financial impacts.
Bello’s plan calls for $1.237 billion in spending, which is an increase of $4.7million. Bello says that’s about a third of a percentage point increase and below the rate of inflation. It cuts the tax rate by 26 cents, to $8.53 per thousand dollars of assessed value. He says that’s the biggest tax rate cut for the county in almost 20 years. The total levy raised will still go up, because property values have gone up.
If state and local revenues continue to take hits from the pandemic cutting into sales tax collections, Bello says we may have to revisit this budget mid-year.