BY Jason Emerson
The Nelson Town Board unanimously approved the 2019 town budget last week, reducing the town tax rate by 11 cents from last year.
The $1.5 million budget includes $546,000 to be raised by taxes and a town tax rate of $2.65 per every $1,000 in assessed property value — down from the 2018 tax rate of $2.76 per $1,000.
Supervisor Roger Bradstreet said the budget was under the state mandated tax cap by 6.7 percent and the town’s general fund was down by $42,000.
“Our due diligence on the budget has paid off,” Bradstreet said during the board’s Nov. 8 regular monthly meeting. “I think we did pretty well.”
Also at the meeting, the board discussed the ongoing process to undertake logging in the Tuscorora Nature Park behind the Tinsley Hill Road baseball field in Erieville. The town is preparing to send out Requests for Proposals from loggers to cut trees in the area.
The land has been logged previously in 1998, and this will be the same process as was followed then, said Councilor Jen Marti, who is spearheading the process.
Marti said the income received from the logging can be used to improve the land being logged, which means potential improvements to the ball field and the creation of a new nature trail in the area.
The board also unanimously approved an agreement with the state for the installation of two new streetlights in the heart of the hamlet as part of the Route 20 Improvement Project. The state will provide all the equipment and installation of the lights, and the town agrees to maintain, repair and energize the fixtures.
The decorative streetlights will be located with one outside the Magee Auction House and the second in front of Nelson Farms Country Store.
The next meeting of the Nelson Town Board is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, in the town office.
