From the Town Board….
At its meeting on Monday night, the Town Board unanimously adopted the 2023 town budget. The vote was taken after a public hearing was held on November 7 — not one community member attended that hearing.
“That’s probably because we came in under the tax cap,” Supervisor Bob Livsey said, thanking his fellow board members and Comptroller Kelly Pecoraro again for their work creating the spending plan. Livsey called it “an excellent budget with a very minor increase in taxes to both town and village residents.”
In other business from the meeting:
— THPD Chief Frank Basile reported that his officers responded to 150 calls in October, as well as took on 300 patrol assignments. There were 42 traffic stops, 29 tickets written and three arrests made. Basile said that, in conjunction with the HFPD, his officers did a two-hour traffic enforcement detail recently, stopping over 30 vehicles travelling in excess of 70 miles per hour. He warned motorists that they will be doing the enforcement again soon.
— The board acknowledged several recent actions pertaining to town operations, including a Health Department water district violation about reporting test results that was eventually deleted by the county; an EPA violation at the Sewer Plant because there is no printed copy of daily operations in the facility; that will be corrected; and a Dial-A-Bus paperwork violation that the board agreed to pay a fine to settle.
— The board accepted the resignation of police officer Taylor Abbot as he took a full-time job elsewhere, and terminated the appointment of mechanic James Kilgore after a scheduling conflict didn’t allow him to take a job with the town.
— Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee chair Olga Anderson reminded the board that they can now apply for a $5000 grant from the state’s Clean Energy Communities program after summer work by intern Erica Affronti.
— The board acknowledged transfer of $234,950 to pay bills. Among the larger amounts were: $3197 to Orange & Rockland; $3846 to E.Tetz & Sons (for asphalt at the Sewer Plant); $19844 to Biometrics4All (police equipment); $194,260 to Highland Falls (water bill); and $2738 to New Windsor (technology services).
