Town Board Calls Audible; Special Meeting Tomorrow to Vote on 2011 Budget

Shortly after 5:00 on Thursday evening, hours after the town board finished its work session, Councilwoman Jodi Giglio informed media that the board will hold a Special Town Board Meeting on Friday to "take up a resolution to vote on the 2011 town budget."

The audible came after most assumed , with no changes made by the board since Walter presented his budget on Sept. 30. Walter, reached shortly after the announcement, was still confident any proposed changes would not have the votes to pass, and his proposed budget would remain.

"I've always predicted my budget would be the final budget," Walter said. "As far as what will happen tomorrow, I have no predictions."

Giglio and Councilman George Gabrielsen have been working to reduce the budget beyond Walter's proposed 4.3 percent tax increase. Gabrielsen said on Thursday evening he was confident that he would have three votes needed to cut the budget down to 4 percent, or possibly below.

"It's basically the Supervisor's budget plus a whole list of cuts," he said. "We spent the afternoon crunching numbers and working and working until we finally came up with something. And we couldn't issue the release until we knew we had three votes. I'm positive I have three votes."

Councilmen John Dunleavy and Jim Wooten have been in favor of adding to Walter's tentative budget, saying that the town will run out of funds by next year, as some of the cuts will cost the town more than what it may be saving on face value. Six full-time layoffs are proposed coming from departments such as Community Development, Planning, and Animal Control.

"It seems like they want to make all these cuts just for the sake of hitting a number," said Wooten, referring to Gabrielsen and Giglio's desire to keep the tax increase below four percent. "I keep telling them some of these are going to cost us more than they think they're saving. I've been telling them until I get blue in the face."

It remains unclear exactly where the proposed cuts are coming from.