The Town of Plattekill has reduced the proposed tax hike of 10.3 percent in its 2024 tentative budget to a 7.6 percent increase in its latest spending plan that will be voted on at a special budget meeting on November 8.

A total of $112,775 was cut from the tentative budget after town officials met with department heads over the past month. The new preliminary budget with the 2.7 percent reduction was released following the Town Board meeting on November 1.

Deputy Supervisor Dean DePew Sr., who ran the November 1 Town Board meeting in the absence of Supervisor Jennifer Salemo, told the Southern Ulster Times after the meeting that he hoped more cuts would be made before the final budget is adopted.

“We’ll still work to the last minute to do whatever we can to reduce it,” DePew said. “The unfortunate reality is that if you look at all the other towns they’ve all done the same thing by exceeding the tax cap. I’m happy that it’s lower than I thought it was going to be. But we don’t want to cut services. We want to enhance services.”

The Town Board slashed a total of $112,775 from the tentative budget to reduce the amount to be raised by taxes in 2024 to $4,568,752, which is still an increase of 7.6 percent over the 2023 tax levy of $4,244,483.

The cuts made in the preliminary budget came in the general fund ($75,219) and the highway department ($37,556).

In other news, the board voted 4-0 to approve the hiring of new police officer Robert Vasta of New Windsor.

Vasta retired from the city of Newburgh’s police department in 2021. He served as a police officer in the city from 2002-2013 before being promoted to detective in 2013. He was a detective from 2013-2021.

The town is accepting applications for a part-time building inspector to replace Scott Mandoske, who recently resigned.

The position, which is limited to 23 hours per week, includes building inspections, code enforcement and zoning and water inspections.

Anyone interested in applying should contact the clerk to the supervisor, Tiffany Galligan, at 845-883-7331, extension 10, for more information and a job application. Interested parties can also contact Galligan at supclerktop@yahoo.com.

The Veteran’s Day Ceremony has been scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Veteran’s Memorial and Town Park on November 11.