By Matthew Saari
Dresden’s 2019 budget was approved 3-0 on Saturday but only after a very heated public hearing and 20-minute recess.
Supervisor Paul Ferguson opened the hearing by providing a summary of the proposed budget.
The total budget stood at $1,179,915 including a tax levy of $821,472. This represented a 3.61 percent increase over the prior year.
Included in that is a $5,000 operating increase for both the Dresden Volunteer Fire Company and Huletts Landing Volunteer Fire Department.
“They haven’t been raised in a long time,” Ferguson said.
The verbal firefight began when Ferguson added that all municipal officials would receive a pay raise of $250 while highway superintendent Rick Hobus would receive an additional $1,000.
“That’s a nice chunk of money,” said Anda Stipins-Gang. “What are you basing that increase on? I want to know how you can justify a raise for yourself.”
Ferguson stated there hadn’t been a raise for municipal officers since 2014. Before that argument took root however, former supervisor George Gang pointed out that the budget hadn’t been tabulated correctly.
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