Budget shrinks by $12,000

Still no word on state aid, By Mark J. Yablonsky FRANKLIN — Franklin Borough’s 2009 budget went through a relatively calm public hearing last week. Discussions about the proposed tab of $5.9 million — which represents a drop of just under $12,000 from last year’s budget — included an extra bit of unexpected good news. It turns out the Wallkill Valley Regional school board cut its tax rate by about eight cents. That will help shave Franklin’s rate by an extra few cents as well. As of now, Franklin’s tax rate for the new budget would increase roughly 20 cents per every $100 of assessed property value. That translates to about $200 for every $100,000 of assessed property value. Grant Rome, the borough’s chief financial officer, also said that if the town does get the same $220,000 in aid from Trenton it did last year, the tax rate would drop to about 12 cents. Cutting continues When the budget was introduced in March, the tax rate was about six cents higher. In the meantime, The budget committee vows to keep scrutinizing the proposed spending plan until it’s time to adopt. The budget cannot be adopted until the state releases its figures. “I’m sure there will be further cuts,” said borough administrator Richard R. Wolak last week. “But the catalyst for whatever they (budget committee) do will be the release of extraordinary aid, or no release of extraordinary aid.” He cautioned that planning for a yearly budget has an impact far beyond the fiscal year. “The biggest misnomer that people have when they talk budget is that they think it’s only for one year. But when you put these numbers together, you have to project for the future,” Wolak said.