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Highway Superintendent Wayne Kelder's proposed zero-dollar increase for the Town Highway Department Budget met with stiff opposition from Supervisor Duke and her cadre of Democratic Councilmen.
Our Republican Highway Superintendent was informed by the Town Board that a zero growth budget for the Highway Department would make them look bad because of the town's double digit (13%) General Fund increase.
The Rochester Highway Department Budget was then massaged to produce an increase of $115,467 (nearly 9%) to $1,457,233 to provide a comfort zone for Supervisor Duke and her Democratic controlled Town Board. This was done by significant increases in selected Highway Department Budget Lines:
Budget line DA-6-9730.600 Debt Service Ban Principal
was increased by $82,765 or 62%
Budget line DA-6-9060.800 Employee Health Insurance
was increased by $24,549 or 41%
These are increases that Superintendent Kelder has stated were not needed nor asked for. The net result is that the amount to be raised by taxes for the Highway Department Budget increased by $126,457 or nearly 11% due to the increases in that budget and lower anticipated revenues.
Highway Superintendent Kelder should be commended instead of being chastised by Supervisor Duke for proposing a fiscally sound zero-growth budget. It's time that Supervisor Duke and her band of merry men realize that the money allocated for our town's budgets is not theirs. That money belongs to the hardworking taxpayers in our town. It is time to elect officials that care more about the taxpayer's pocketbook than their image to the public.
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