Town moves forward with 2025 budget

Goshen Town Supervisor Joseph Betro’s proposed tax increase for the 2025 town budget is 1.93%, he revealed at the Sept. 26 town board meeting. He blamed the increase on insurance and retirement costs going up.

Despite being under the 2% tax cap, the town board still passed a law allowing the town to surpass the tax levy limit imposed by the state, because according to the state’s standards, the tax increase surpassed the limit. The next step for the budget is a public hearing set for Oct. 24.

Other business

The town continued a public hearing of the proposed amendment to Chapter 80B (“solid waste management”) of the town code. Several residents spoke in protest of the law, with one accusing the board of using “smoke and mirrors to confuse the public” in an effort to allow Hughes Energy Group to build a plant in the town.

Hughes recently pulled its application to build a facility in Goshen after the DEC rejected their project. The board maintains that the amendment to 80B will simply allow IWS to fit into town code. The town’s code prohibits waste facilities from being on town roads, but when the law was drafted, IWS already existed on a town road. According to the board, the revision in the law is to allow already existing businesses to be grandfathered into the code.

The town also is considering the creation of an ambulance tax district for budget year 2026. A consultant speaking before the town board said the process needs to be completed by February 2025. The town is hoping the village will opt into the district, but first the town needs to hold a public hearing on the project, which has been set for Nov. 14.

The board received a report from Police Chief James Post. He said six speed limit signs that show a driver the speed they are driving are to be deployed around town. The signs were acquired via a grant.

He also touted a tech grant from Albany for surveillance equipment. The town police will be putting cameras up, reading license plates, but not issuing tickets. They have put up five so far and in total are putting up nine cameras. The police reportedly already caught someone stealing gas from a gas station with the license plate reading technology.