The Shawangunk Town Board has exceeded the state-mandated 2.0 percent tax cap for the first time since New York State implemented it in 2012.

Following a lightly attended public hearing at its Nov. 3 meeting on the town’s 2023 budget, the board voted 4-0 to approve a spending plan that will exceed the tax cap by $83,872.

The total proposed to be raised by taxes is $4,391,668 in 2023.

The amount to be raised by taxes in the general fund decreased by 2.6 percent to $1,574,767, but it rose 8.0 percent to $2,200,687 in the town’s highway budget.

The tax rate increase for an average home valued at $300,000 would be $15.30.

Deputy Supervisor Adrian DeWitt, who ran the meeting in the absence of Town Supervisor John Valk, said he felt this was the year the town could go over the tax cap after a decade of being under it.

“I think this is the year to give the highway department a little more,” DeWitt said.
Highway Superintendent Rich Blazeski said the additional funds will be used as part of his 10-year plan to fix the town’s roads and upgrade equipment.

“I’m grateful,” Blazeski said after the meeting. “We’d like to buy an over-the-rail mover so we can mow the sides of the roads and trim the trees back. Ours has been out of service for three years. And we’d like a one-ton dump truck to replace a 2003 truck that has 250,000 miles on it. And possibly a tandem axle truck.”

Under the 2023 budget, town officials will receive a 2.5 percent pay increase.

Blazeski’s salary will increase to $58,978 while Town Clerk Jane Rascoe’s salary will be $56,157.

Valk’s annual salary will increase to $37,585, while town board members will be paid $13,484 each. Town justices Kevin Hunt and Mike Voss will see 2.5 percent increases to $16,401 a year.

In other business, town resident Adrienne Gelfand-Perine charged that a number of pro-Democratic lawn signs were either stolen or destroyed in the town during the campaign.

She also complained about signs that residents who lived near churches and schools put up on their property with obscene language directed at President Joe Biden.

“This is on display when people are going to church and to school,” she said. “I believe there needs to be a statement from this Town Board that in order to keep civility this is not acceptable behavior.”

Although board members agreed taking political signs down or putting up ones with offensive language shouldn’t be tolerated, the Town Board did not vote to draft a resolution or statement condemning the action.

“I don’t think anybody on this board condones vandalism,” DeWitt said.

Councilman Brian Amthor didn’t think a formal statement from the board would make a difference.

“I don’t think a statement from us is going to change anybody’s behavior,” he said. “But we are all in agreement that we don’t condone any destruction of personal property whatsoever. I think that’s a fair enough statement across the board that we’ve made so far.”

Police Chief Gerald Marlatt told the board that part-time officer John Muloomey had turned in his resignation from the town police force. The board voted to approve his resignation.

Then at the recommendation of Marlatt, the board approved the hiring of town resident Stephen Wrubel to fill the vacancy.

The board also voted to adopt Local Law No. 6 for Miscellaneous Zoning Text Amendments.

“The committee that worked on this worked really hard,” Councilman Robert Miller said. “They found a lot of miscellaneous items in our current zoning that needed to be corrected. This is something that we sorely need that will really smooth things out.”

The board also set a public hearing for Dec. 15 to introduce Local Law No. 7 to create a Gateway Zone.