PINE BUSH – Last week Supervisor Charles Carnes unveiled the upcoming year's budget for the Town of Crawford. This week, on Thursday evening, at 7 p.m., there will be the Public Hearing on the budget for 2010.

"It's a bare bones budget," said Carnes. "All non-organized employees are not getting any pay increases. We made cuts in every department, looked for ways to eliminate spending wherever we could."

There will be a tax increase of 4.71%. "That means a $56 dollar hike in taxes for a $315,000 house in the Town of Crawford," said Carnes.

Carnes noted that towns faced with the drop off in mortgage and sales taxes were not given any stimulus money. "No stimulus money came to the Town of Crawford for our budget. Stimulus went to the state, and it went to the school districts, but it didn't come down to the towns."

The projected budget for 2010 was $3,767,905. This represents an increase of $95,856 over 2009. Asked this week if there would be any changes from the projected budget unveiled last week, Carnes said, "Not very much. There are some slight changes, relatively minor things."

Carnes said, "It would be great if more people came to the meeting. People are always welcome to come down and give input."

WAWARSING – If all goes according to plan, residents of Wawarsing will actually see their taxes go down this year, a reprieve from the financial woes of the local and national economies. "I think as it stands right now, from what we've seen so far, it looks like various things will take a decrease, or at least hold the line," said Town Councilperson John Gavaris, referring to the town's taxes.

According to Town Comptroller Pat Althouse, she and the town board are working together to cut as many expenses as possible, and to take money out of the fund reserve balance to ensure that taxes go down a little.

The news comes after Thursday's public hearing on the 2010 budget, which listed a tax increase of about 30 percent for the A-line of the budget over last year, or an increase of $71.96 per $2,000 assessed property value. It was stressed at the meeting that the budget would likely change by the time it was passed. The final budget is due in Kingston on November 20.

All residents of the Town of Wawarsing pay taxes into the A-line, while residents outside of the Village of Ellenville also pay taxes into the B-line. Expenses coming out of the A-line serve all town residents, such as operating town hall and paying for its many departments, while the B-line pays for services rendered only for residents outside of the village, such as the building and highway departments — both of which are services provided to village residents by its own municipal government.

Town Supervisor Ed Jennings, Deputy Supervisor Terry Houck, and Councilperson John Gavaris met with Althouse and Town Clerk Jane Eck on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. to discuss the budget further. They were joined by Supervisor-Elect Lenny Distel and incoming Councilperson Steve Bradley. During the meeting, Althouse went through the proposed 2010 budget line by line, and the group discussed the whys and wherefores regarding the various budget increases and decreases. They debated increasing funding for the Shadowland Theatre, the Hunt Memorial Building Committee, and whether or not to take on an IT worker as a full-time employee, who they currently employ as an independent contractor.

The budget will likely be worked on up to and until the November 20 deadline. As such, the board was unable to provide a definitive number regarding how much taxes will be for residents at the meeting on Tuesday. After the changes were discussed at the meeting, Althouse was going to have to plug the new numbers into the computer and provide the board with an update as to the budget's progress. Because of the Veterans Day Holiday on Wednesday, further updates of the budget aren't available.

Last week's town board meeting, which, due to the general election, had been rescheduled to Wednesday of last week instead of the normal Tuesday, was a relatively quiet affair. After an executive session to deal with personnel issues, the board reconvened and discussed issues surround the budget for fiscal year 2010. The board also opened up the scheduled public hearing on the budget, taking several questions from members of the gallery regarding various line items.

Supervisor Fiore said that the next year's budget bottom line was calculated by taking the amount raised in 2009, and then subtracting that number from the amount raised this year. The conclusion isn't good, according to Fiore. Without any budget tinkering in other areas, residents of Mamakating would be looking at a tax increase of more than 17 percent in order to offset the shortfall.

The good news is that the budget negotiation team has been going over the various items line by line, searching for ways to cut costs. As of now, the deficit is approximately $150,000, which would put next year's tax increase at just under five percent, a much more manageable number for residents who are feeling the pinch of a moribund economy. But this smaller number could change for the better as ongoing negotiations take place. Fiore said he was adamant about not hitting taxpayers with a big increase this year.

There will be, however, several more opportunities for the public to weigh in on next year's budget. The next meeting will occur on Monday, November 16 at 6:30 p.m., and there will be a second meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, after which the board will adopt the final numbers for 2010.

Supervisor Carl Chipman opened the town council meeting with a reading of the proposed 2010 budget for the Town of Rochester. "For this year, the goal was to try to keep the costs down as low as possible," Chipman said. To that end, the budget he presented to the board represents a 3.5% overall decrease in the tax levy.

He said the reduction was achieved by lowering expenditures from both the general and the highway budgets. Most town employees were awarded 2 percent salary increases, including town council members. While the budget initially reflected a zero increase in the supervisor's salary, Councilwoman Lynn Archer argued that the budget should either reflect an increase in the supervisor's salary or the increase for the town council members should also be abolished. The board voted to increase Chipman's salary.

Also budgeted for 2010 is $25,000 for the use of both the Ellenville and Stone Ridge libraries. Lacking its own library, the Town of Rochester's council had, until 2002, contracted for its residents' library service with both nearby libraries. In geographical terms, the Ellenville library primarily serves the town's southern population, while the Stone Ridge Library will provide services to the northern section of town.

When the Stone Ridge library changed its rates in 2002, the town dropped its contract; Chipman and Councilwoman Lynn Archer worked with the library's board to help reinstate contractual relations. The new agreement provides library access for 250 households, or 500 to 600 town residents, and free access to all town children.

With minor changes, the town council voted unanimously to adopt the proposed 2010 budget.

Compared with the 2009 budget figures, the 2010 figures are relatively unchanged from last year. There are some increases and some decreases, but this is an austerity budget and the overall increase was kept to 2.13 percent or 31 cents per thousand assessed value. Supervisor John Valk commended Frank Petrone, chief of police, and Highway Superintendent Marty Hand for restraining spending in their departments. It was pointed out that austerity was achieved with no layoffs of personnel.