Town Budget And Meeting Notes
by Doug La Rocque
The Grafton Town Board held a workshop meeting on its tentative 2021 town budget on Thursday evening, October 15, and out of that produced a preliminary budget that totals $1.323 million or about $23,000 more than in the 2020 budget. The board decided to transfer $26,500 from its unexpended fund balance, which allows it to keep the tax hike to 1.9%, or just under the 2% state tax cap. That means the budget can be adopted following a public hearing, and there is no need for a local law approval to exceed the tax cap. With the Grafton Fire District included in the overall budget (it is a separate budget line) the total for the 2021 spending plan rises to $1.431 million. The Fire District budget carries its own 1.6% tax hike.
There were no major changes in any of the budget lines for the coming year.
The board plans another budget workshop on Thursday, October 26 at 5 pm at the Everett Wagar Senior Center, to be followed by a public hearing on the budget at 6 pm.
Town Board Meeting
Most of the October 12 regular town board meeting dealt with ambulance issues, as was reported in last week’s edition of The Eastwick Press. The board did vote to purchase a new computer for Assessor Craig Surprise. The current computer is out of date and cannot be updated with programs he needs to do his job. At last month’s meeting, the board heard a presentation from a company called EGS, about performing energy audits it claimed could save the town money, as well as possibly changing its energy provider. The board is of the mindset not to make such a change until its current contract expires (cancelation fees come into play), but Councilman Frank Lewandusky did propose asking EGS about a quote on the audit portion of its proposal.
Councilman Lewandusky indicated he has not yet had success looking for a repaving company that might be willing to donate material and services to restore the basketball court, but that he is still looking.
The youth program is again holding a Trunk or Treat at the VFW/Fire Hall from 1 to 3 pm on Halloween, Saturday, October 31.
The Board approved a resolution that rescinds earlier legislation that called for the creation of a town Facebook page, because it could not control the posting of comments on the page (it wanted none) and said yes to paying the Airgas bill each month before the monthly audit. Both resolution were 4 to 1 votes, with Councilman Lewandusky objecting.
The meeting was adjourned in memory of Mary Dayhaw.