Newstead Town Board begins financial planning for 2009
The Newstead Town Board met in a work session Monday with various department heads as it began work on the 2009 budget.
Supervisor David Cummings plans to have a tentative fiscal package in place by Sept.
22. A public hearing will be held Oct. 20, with final adoption Nov. 10.
Some key points raised included:
• A proposed raise for the Planning Board chairman from $170 monthly to $240. The chairman attends at least four meetings each month and consults regularly with various town officials on planning issues. The chairman earns a salary, while the other board members are paid on a per diem basis.
• Assigning a town-owned pickup to John Good, the town code enforcement officer. Good currently is paid mileage for using his own truck on town business. Rather than reimbursing Good for mileage, Cummings and others believe the town would save money by assigning him a town-owned vehicle.
The Highway Department trades in three pickups every three years on new purchases. One idea under consideration is to keep one pickup for an additional three years, assigning it to the code enforcement officer. It also would be available for other town employees, like the assessor, to use.
• Town Clerk Dawn Izydorczak asked the board to consider including another $3,000 in her equipment fund that would cover inputting tax payment data on the town Web site with a link to a site allowing payment of taxes by credit card. Taxpayers would also pay any fees associated with this method of payment so the town would incur no additional costs.
• Highway Superintendent Michael Bassanello noted much higher costs for fuel and supplies of sand and salt. He said the department uses about 1,000 gallons of fuel a month for its vehicles.
• Daniel Roland, the new recreation director, is suggesting some program expansions.
Both he and Cummings suggested studying a $10 fee increase for the six-week summer recreation program to $30, which would cover the costs of more summer programming.
Roland, who was hired last month, has already instituted some changes, including issuing Recreation Department T-shirts to staff and program participants. A survey rating the program can be filled out at Town Hall, 5 Clarence Center Road.
• Town Historian Nancy Eckerson has on her “wish list” a laptop computer, a camcorder and two computers that could be used by town residents for things like genealogy research. She would also like an assistant, whose duties could include videotaping senior citizens’ reminiscences of the town. She and Cummings both noted that grants might be available toward equipment purchases.
Eckerson was told by board members that money is not available to convert the basement of Newstead Library on Main Street into space for local history, but fundraising ideas are being studied along with possible grants.
More budget discussions are expected at Monday’s work session, which will precede the board’s regular meeting at 8
p. m.
