During its November meeting, the Town of Clymer discussed and approved the 2025 Town Budget, which will include an 8.39% tax increase. PJ photo by Sara Holthouse

CLYMER – Clymer residents are looking at an 8.39% tax increase under the budget recently approved by Clymer Town Board members.

That’s less than the 12% originally proposed, but will be more than the state’s 2% tax cap. The city’s 2024 tax rate is $4.95 per $1,000 of assessed valuation while the approved budget raises the tax rate to $5.35 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Riley Enlow, Clymer budget officer, said she proposed an override of $21,129.45 in the city’s tax levy for a total 2025 tax levy of $521,756.45.

Some of the biggest increases for the city’s budget were found in personnel, health insurance and pension costs.

“For health insurance, pension and personnel, there was a 10% increase over the 2023 budget for 2024,” Enlow said. “2025 is actually only a 5% increase over the 2024 budget.”

Other major costs to the city include two highway trucks that were tied at the same time and require capital payments larger than previous years, along with a water connection that is still being paid for, and another expected in 2025 for the new water system.

Enlow reported that she cut several areas to reduce the budget as much as possible, reducing some appropriations closer to what is actually spent, including line items such as the contingency account, traffic control, garage contracts and park contracts. State retirement has also declined along with workers’ compensation. Property taxes have increased for revenue, but the rest of the city’s revenue is largely the same.

“Our revenue is so, I don’t want to say inconsistent but inconsistent is the best word for it,” Enlow said. “We’re not guaranteed the other revenue, and we’re not really guaranteed property taxes. If people don’t pay their taxes, we operate out of the fund balance, and sometimes that happens. Just like with the water district, if people don’t pay their taxes, we lose money in water district and that has happened in the last few years.”

Town Supervisor Brian Willink added to that, saying the revenue in the budget is really just their best guess. Enlow said the biggest revenue they get is the sales tax, which depends on what people spend in the county. The state expected it to grow 2%, Enlow said, and she increased that in the budget, but she said they’re still budgeting for it to be higher than previous years to balance the budget and not use much of the fund balance .

“Basically what we’re saying is this is our best guess,” Willink said. “We’re trying to be realistic, but at the same time conservative, knowing that we’re going to have a multi-million dollar water project that’s going to be a bit of a drain on not only water resources but also highway resources. . . . So we’re putting some money in there to try to help mitigate that, but because we don’t know exactly what we’re going to have for those expenses, it’s hard to know what we’re going to have.”

Willink added that while some money has been put in, it’s possible that none will be used, or that more than what’s put in there will be used, and they’re just trying to plan as best they can. He also praised Enlow for all the work she put into the budget, saying he asked her to rework it four times. The municipal board voted and approved the budget for 2025.