The Town of Webb Board and Town department heads met on Wednesday and Thursday, October 10 and 11 to discuss the tentative budget for 2013.
Supervisor Ted Riehle has plenty of experience crafting and submitting budgets as former head of the Wastewater Treatment Department.
But still in the first year of his first term as Town Supervisor, this is Riehle’s first opportunity to serve on the other side of the desk.
And he said the process seems to be going fairly smoothly.
He admits he will be able to assess things better once the budget becomes permanent and he can look back.
Riehle said there is a lot of assistance that the State of New York Comptroller’s Office makes available to municipalities, as well the Association of Towns“This is my first budget cycle, but things are going okay. I don’t see any major difficulties, per se. We’re just working through the issues as they come across.”
According to Riehle, a fuel estimate, which he said is always a concern, has been determined and currently, it looks like health care benefits have taken another expected jump.
One of the major changes to the 2013 budget is a decreased expenditure due to the partnership with St. Elizabeth’s Hospital on the Health Center, Riehle said.
However, he noted the costs of other capital projects in the area, specifically repairs to the Lock ‘N Dam, will offset the $500,000 savings, as will possible energy efficiency upgrades to McCauley.
Riehle estimates that the Board will spend the remainder of October working out the details in developing a preliminary budget.
Currently, the preliminary budget is scheduled to be released on Monday, November 5.
A public hearing regarding the budget is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Riehle anticipates adopting the final budget on Tuesday, November 13.
“Again, I don’t have anything to compare it to, but nothing I see is frightening me. I think so far, it looks like reasonable requests and we just need to work through those details to come up with a budget that works for the town.”
