With a May 1 deadline to adopt a village budget looming, Walden Trustees have scheduled a special meeting this week (Wednesday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m.) in which they hope to adopt a spending plan for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

The proposed plan offers a 2.06 percent increase in the amount to be raised by taxes. That’s currently $57,000 under the state-mandated tax cap of 3.21 percent, according to Village Manager John Revella. But the proposed $8.9 million budget makes no provision for ambulance service that is currently funded through the Town of Montgomery’s General (A) fund. That line will disappear in January, when the Town of Montgomery Ambulance District is created. Since Walden has not opted to join the Villages of Maybrook and Montgomery and the town in the district, there are no provisions for paying for ambulance service beginning in January, the midpoint of the village’s fiscal year.

At last week’s village budget hearing, and throughout the meeting, several village trustees urged that a budget line be created for ambulance service in the proposed spending plan. But Revella said that while a budget line could be created, it would be impossible to fund that line, since there was no indication of what that service might cost.
The proposed budget, as it now stands, shows a tax levy of $5,110,234 for an increase of 2.06 percent. The proposed tax rate of $17.5577 per thousand of assessed valuation

“To get down to 2.06 is a phenomenal job,” Mayor John Ramos said, adding that at one point during the budget discussions, the proposed increase was 7.5 percent.

In addition to ambulance service, there were other issues to resolve. Trustees debated the need for a field groomer for the recreation department and a new vehicle for the village manager, replacing one that is currently 11 years old. The board did approve the purchase of an additional police car, after Chief William R. Herlihy said that three of the department’s six vehicles are currently out of service.

The proposed budget also includes pay raises for village employees, and some trustees indicated that more discussion of those raises is needed.

“I am having a really hard time with some of those numbers,” Trustee Lynn Thompson said. “We have to justify to the taxpayers about how we are spending their money. There is some pushback from the taxpayers about the previous increases. I would like us to try and negotiate those numbers.”

The proposed budget shows increases for the village manager, whose salary would increase from $108,510 to $110,680; village treasurer (the position is currently vacant) $71,500 to $72,930; village clerk, $57,691 to $70,750; police chief, $127,500 to $140,000 and recreation coordinator, $86,279 to $88,005.

“Last year we worked diligently, bringing employees to parity,” Ramos said. “We will have a well-balanced workforce.”