Town of Gardiner taxpayers got some good news when the Town Board reversed course and approved a budget that cuts the amount to be raised by taxes by 4.5 percent in 2023.

The Town Board had originally voted on Oct. 11 to override the state-mandated 2.0 percent tax cap after Supervisor Marybeth Majestic unveiled a 2023 tentative budget that had a projected 10.7 percent increase in the amount to be raised by taxes.

But after some hard work to prune spending and using $375,000 of unexpended funds to reduce the budget, the board was happy to vote unanimously for the tax cut.

The amount to be raised in the taxes in the general fund and the highway department in the 2023 budget is $1,768,628, a 4.5 percent decrease over the budgeted amount of $1,851,899 in 2022.

The town board nearly tripled the unexpended funds in the new budget to offset other rising costs. The board only used $127,500 in unexpended funds in the 2022 spending plan.

The 2023 overall budget of $2,756,476, which includes all the districts in the town, is down 1.8 percent over the 2022 spending plan of $2,807,112.

The total budget includes the general fund, highway department, sewer, water, lighting, the library and the Gardiner and Shawangunk Valley Fire Districts.

The part of the budget that must adhere to the 2.0 percent tax cap does not include the library and two fire districts.

“Since 2007, this is by far the largest we’ve done,” Councilman Warren Wiegand said of the tax cuts.

In 2023, non-union full-time town employees will receive pay increases of 5.0 percent and part-time employees will receive 6.5 percent increases.

Majestic previously said she limited pay increases to non-union employees because of the considerable benefits full-time employees receive.

Also, factoring into Majestic’s decision to reject pay requests of up to 25 percent from department heads was the fact that the Town of Gardiner is currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the union that represents the highway department.

Majestic said the union has presented a proposal that would increase pay for the first year of the contract to “just shy of 12.0 percent for an increase over three years of 18.0 percent.”

The town also will save some money in 2023 for the Town Clerk’s position. After she unsuccessfully lobbied for an 8.75 percent pay increase for 2023, longtime Town Clerk Michelle Mosher told the board she now plans to retire at the end of the year.

Mosher’s current salary is $63,581. The town is now budgeting $50,000 for the position in 2023.

“Michelle L. Mosher informed us on Oct. 6 that she will be retiring as of 12/31/2022,” Majestic said. “She had three more years remaining on her term. When she told me about her retirement, she informed me that she had only planned on staying on the job through March 31 of 2023 anyway. The Town Board will need to appoint someone to this position as of 1/1/2023 and that person will need to run in the general election to keep that position.”

Highway Superintendent Brian Stiscia also didn’t receive the 7.0 percent salary increase he requested. He was given a 5.0 percent increase to $69,584 in 2023.