GREENFIELD -- When officials in Greenfield took their first pass at crafting a town budget, the plan called for $500,000 to be taken from the town's $1.3 million reserve fund.
For town Supervisor Dick Rowland, that was too much.
"We decided that we wanted to keep a little more of a rain day fund because, unfortunately, we don't think it's stopped raining," he said last week.
The town's latest plan relies on $350,000 in reserve funds to support about $3.4 million in general and highway spending next year. Another $100,000 could be taken from the reserve account to cover shortfalls in sales tax income this year.
But Rowland said he still feels much better about the budget proposal after paring some expenses.
"We felt really uncomfortable dipping into that reserve, so we had to come up with a few pieces we could pull out," he said in an interview at town hall. "We've got to look at four years down the road, and what the impact of our decisions today will be."
As proposed, the town's general fund will total just over $1.4 million next year, and require $200,000 in reserve money.
The spending represents a nearly $500,000 reduction from the current budget year, during which the town built a new, $1.2 million Highway Department garage.
Officials used $700,000 that was being held in a reserve account that had been established for such a purpose, and $500,000 in general funds to build the garage.
The Highway Department moved into the building, now entirely paid for, last month.
The town's Highway Department, meanwhile, has proposed what is essentially a flat budget, which calls for $2 million in spending.
About $150,000 in reserve funds will be used to augment the Highway Department budget, and the highway tax will also go up 12 cents for every $1,000 in assessed valuation, putting the tax rate at $1.13.
The funds will be put toward work on 6.5 miles of road repairs but does not include money for Denton Road.
Residents along Denton Road, shared with Saratoga Springs, have called on town officials to fix the street, but Rowland said the work could cost up to $700,000, an amount that would require some level of outside support.
Requests for assistance have been made to Gov. David Paterson's office and to U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, he said, in hopes that federal stimulus funding could play a role.
"If somebody comes to me with a check, we'll fix it tomorrow," Rowland said.
The spending plan also contains 3 percent raises for each of the town's roughly two dozen employees - something Rowland said is an acknowledgement of the difficult work town employees undertake.
"It's something we need to do," he said. "We need to take care of the people who work hard for us."
Town officials have scheduled a public hearing on the budget for 7:20 p.m. Nov. 5.
The Town Board could adopt the budget at its 7:30 p.m. meeting unless more adjustments need to be made.
Posted in Local on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:55 am
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