Massena trustees approve plan to retain tax overpayments less than $10

Dec. 26—MASSENA — Massena village trustees have approved a resolution that allows them to keep any tax overpayments of less than $10.

"There's never been anything that I can find that spoke about this. This is something that obviously isn't going to be used widely or frequently, I don't think, but it's still something good to have on the books," Treasurer Kevin Felt told trustees.

He said during the last tax collection season, one taxpayer overpaid their taxes by 10 cents.

"So, right now it's currently sitting on the books as an overpayment. The amount of work that is involved to refund people that are less than $10, we spend more money and resources to fund that back. This kind of frees up our hands a little bit for anything less than $10, to not have to refund it," Mr. Felt said.

He said he will talk with Village Administrator Monique Chatland at the end of each year's collection period.

"Each year I will come forward with a report showing anybody that overpaid and tell you how much it was just so you have an idea what we're going to retain," Mr. Felt told trustees.

He said the plan is to have trustees approve an annual resolution that allows them to keep any overpayment under $10.

"We'll just keep it at $10 every year so it frees up any of these smaller refunds," he said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Gina Snyder shared her concerns about the impact on taxpayers.

"You made it a $10 overage. I thought that might have been a little too high. I could see $1 or less. But if it was a $10 overage, I would hope that you would at least contact someone for a $10 overage," she said.

During this week's meeting, Mr. Felt also updated trustees on health insurance premium increases from their health insurance provider, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield. Premiums are updated on a calendar year basis, and Mr. Felt said the change would increase the costs for fiscal year 2020-21 (January through May) and fiscal year 2021-22 (June through December).

The monthly health insurances rates will increase by 2.8 percent for each group — from $905.24 to $930.58 for employee coverage, $1,810.47 to $1,861.15 for employee and spouse coverage, $1,538.91 to $1,581.98 for employee and children coverage, and $2,579.93 to $2,652.15 for family coverage. The estimated total increase is $77,039.

United Healthcare's Prescription and Medicare Supplement plan for employees, retirees and/or spouses age 65 and over will decrease by 6 percent — from $443.08 to $416.50 each month.

"Based on current enrollment, the village should experience an increase of approximately $19,000 in the coming year," Mr. Felt said.

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