Lewisboro Budget Hearing Slated for Tonight

Lewisboro Town Supervisor Peter Parsons is asking residents who are contemplating his 2013 budget—which would far exceed the state-mandated 2-percent property tax cap—to remember that there is a "price to town services."

Parson's $10,669,259 proposal calls for a 15-percent increase in the town tax rate, because of financial commitments that he said were "set in stone years ago." He defined the biggest cost-drivers as employee benefits, road repairs, debt service payments and highway department repairs, in that order.

The hike breaks down to about $135 more per household than what locals are paying this year, according to Parsons.

Folks are slated to weigh in during part two of a public hearing that starts at 7:30 this evening. The first, which saw several frustrated residents, occurred about two weeks ago.

"I don't know about the budget," Parsons said. "It's up to the town board. I'm a minority supervisor."

The one area of the supervisor's budget that is discretionary, he said, is the road repair line, which would jump by $235,000. Parsons is suggesting a plan that allows for incremental paving—about 4.4 miles a year—over about two decades.

"Be aware, this town has not used a single dollar of town taxes to pave roads for four years," he said, adding that he's not confident the road repair increase will pass. "[Paving] hasn't happened. The only time roads have been paved in the last four years was when there was a state grant, and those are not common. In the last four years we have paved two miles of road in a town with 94 miles of road. Two miles is not significant."