Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)

Village Board OKs $2.42 million budget for 2018-19

- By William J. Kemble news@freemanonl­ine.com

The Village Board has adopted a $2.42 million budget for 2018-19 carrying a 2.64 percent increase in spending of $62.237.

The spending plan was approved at a meeting Tuesday.

Mayor Gary Bassett said the focus had been on keeping the tax rate unchanged while attending to infrastruc­ture needs.

“We’ve put in an annual paving plan,” he said. “Basically, it’s a budget that allocates for a mile of paving a year within the village.”

Among changes in the budget is the expectatio­n of $63,000 in property rental revenue, a 55.52 percent increase of $22,490.

“One of the biggest things that helps us is we brought in Verizon as a cell phone tower, which is bringing in new revenue,” the mayor said.

Bassett added that there has also been a move toward shared services.

“We executed, using the (Dutchess County) procuremen­t service ... to reduce engineerin­g costs,” he said.

Under the budget, there will be a $1.63 million property tax levy, a 1.47 percent increase of $23,697. The figure comes in at $23,120 under the state levy limit.

Salaries in the spending plan include: mayor, unchanged at $8,000, and four trustees at $3,250 each, for a 1.56 percent increase of $50.

There are additional salaries in the water and sewer budgets for the positions, but the figures were not itemized and officials could not immediatel­y provide the informatio­n.

Other changes in the budget include:

• Police at $448,959, for a 5.01 percent increase of $21,438.

• Fire Department at $227,076, an 8.09 percent decrease of $20,000.

• Highway Department at $397,000, a 5.22 percent increase of $19,700.

• Employee benefits at $442,200, a 2.02 percent increase of $8,746.

• Debt service at $172,042, a 2.42 percent increase of $4,059.

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