The Cornwall Town Board adopted its tentative budget on October 21, which means the spending plan is now considered ‘preliminary’ and cannot be touched until the public has a chance to comment on it. That opportunity will come on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., when the annual public hearing on the budget is held.

The $17,267,353 budget (without fire districts) shows an approximate 7.02 percent increase in expenditures, from $16,133,934 the year before. Overall, the budget carries a 19.93 percent increase in taxes ($9,965,706 in fiscal year 2025 to $11,952,552 in fiscal year 2026). The four main funds will have a 28.16 percent increase in taxes, a figure that already drew some ire at last week’s meeting.

Cornwall’s Nancy Bryan told the board “you’re going to tax everyone out of this town”.

The reasons for the increase have been explained several times previously by Supervisor Josh Wojehowski and were again at the meeting.

“The increase is partially due to the fact that we’re decreasing the use of our fund balance by a million dollars,” he explained, saying that instead of the $2.5 million used to offset taxes in the 2025 budget, just $1.547 million will be used for 2026. The town’s fund balance, he and Bookkeeper Pam Wood explained, are rapidly being decreased by using those monies to offset taxes – “it just can’t continue,” Wood said.

The other reason is due to about a million dollars in increased expenses. That’s after the board cut roughly $228,000 from the tentative budget – a new position in the buildings and Grounds Department, not filling a vacant Building Inspector position, reducing the money to be spent on hiring grant writers, and eliminating a proposed part-time clerk for the supervisor’s office.

There are some other increases – several contracts were settled in the past year, the cost of emergency medical services (New Windsor Ambulance) have increased, and, some new tax exemptions were put into place.

Wojehowski won’t apologize for those increased exemptions, spreading a little more tax burden to others.

“We took care of the most vulnerable people in town,” he said. Those moves were made (benefitting people with disabilities, very low income and senior citizens) after public hearings and by a board vote.

The final vote to adopt the budget was bipartisan, 4-1 with Councilwoman Virginia Scott (who leaves the board in the new year) the lone no vote. She had several comments, and also asked Wood to go over the fund balances with her. They did, with Wood saying “there’s just no wiggle room in those fund balances whatsoever, and adding should the town use more of its fund balances, there would be an “even bigger hit” to the taxpayers in 2027.

Scott said she “feels very strongly that we shouldn’t be taking on any new debt” and added “we have to look at needs versus wants”. She continued to look for small ways to add revenue to the town’s coffers; for instance, putting up some old police cars for auction. Wojehowski argued that, when possible, they move older vehicles between departments to get as much use as possible out of them instead of buying new.

Councilwoman Karen Edelman-Reyes, who also leaves the board in the new year, voted yes to move the spending plan forward, saying she understands the concern that people have about the large tax increase, but also saying “the big picture is important”. She cited both Cornwall’s tentative tax rate of $6.63 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, and compared it to neighboring community’s rates of $10.53 in the Town of Newburgh, $8.06 in Monroe, and $9.73 in New Windsor.

“The management of this town over the last 20 or 30 years has us where we are now – still significantly lower than our neighbors,” she said, adding that when looking at the projects ongoing in the community she doesn’t “know of any project we’re engaged in that isn’t worthy or necessary”.

Edelman-Reyes added: “It’s important we spend our money wisely, but also in a way that our community’s values are addressed.”

A final note from her was that, again for 2026, Orange County is expected to lower its tax rate a bit due to growth in the county. “Maybe there’s a little back and forth that will happen there,” she said, indicating that while town taxes may increase that will be buffered by lower county taxes.

From the audience at the budget workshop, former Supervisor Dick Randazzo said that “comparing Cornwall’s budget and tax rate to others is apples to oranges”. He also asked if elected officials salaries were adopted as part of the now tentative budget. They were, Wojehowski said. The budget was set including the following salaries: supervisor $82,964; councilmembers $13,333; town clerk $71,816; justices $40,818; and receiver of taxes $22,541.