Town Budget Process - an unintelligible labryinth

Wow! The Town Board Passed the 2023 Town Budget in their November 15th meeting, congratulating themselves on reducing the "ratables".... Following this process has been head spinning. A recap:

The October 11 Town Board meeting kicked off the process with the agenda indicating that the Superintendent would make some summary remarks on the 2023 budget. He then stated that he would NOT be making introductory remarks.

The agenda was very full (it was a very long meeting) - Department heads presented their 2023 budget requests to the board. These were ad-hoc reviews, some with charts, some with issues about salaries, some very detailed - none provided an overview of a spending outlook for 2022, the changes that are required, or the anticipated full year request for 2023... and of course the Public Portion off the meeting was scheduled before these reviews so any comments or questions require citizen clairvoyance.

The October 24 Town Board Meeting included a different set of department heads presenting their 2023 budget requests -- and any time there was a question about priorities, trade-offs -- it was deferred to a "Budget Workshop" special Town Board meeting. This workshop was scheduled and a promise of a healthy discussion and a comprehensive picture was anticipated.

The November 5 (a Saturday with gorgeous weather) Budget workshop was held.... with nary a discussion of the budget. Some discussion about grants that might be available to help with water infrastructure projects - but no details to on a budget. A public hearing was set. Ta-Da!!! perhaps a summary, an explanation?

November 10, a Thursday, a special Town Board Meeting.... and... with a very limited audience... and one would have to have the IT skills of someone manning the Genius Bar to find the preliminary budget on the Town Website -- a public hearing was held. Shock, Shock -- there were NO public comments... because quite frankly, what would they comment on? There is no context, no narrative, no explanations... and even sitting through the department head presentations -- the line items with the majority of the costs (interest payments on bonds, personnel, mandates etc) -- were never summarized or discussed.

November 14th ..After dedicating a plaque in memory of Major Trabucco, with his family in attendance - replicating a plaque hung across the street in the Wappingers Jr. High School - the Public portion of the meeting opened/closed in minutes.. because what was there to discuss? Then the Budget discussions commenced -- which involved reading out various line item numbers and recommended changes, meaning that the board members had been working on the budget after the workshop & public hearing. Then a vote on the "A" fund changes... more reading out a few line items .. then a vote on the "B" fund changes.. and then oops... a suggestion of Disaster Preparedness updates. The discussion is paused because some of the changes require an "Executive Session".

The first three resolutions are tabled.. a resolution to award a contract for a fence replacement at Robinson Lane fields was voted on (passed) ... a Resolution to extend Dial-A-Ride services with the County (passed), a letter of intent, pending a public hearing on a block grant to provide phase 2 funding for Spook Hill Park (based) .. next resolution tabled and (drumroll) ... the Buildings and Grounds department was approved (4 to 1) to purchase a new truck. A discussion of how the funds spent in 2022 on the Sports Museum should be handled -- the missing correspondence from the correspondence log was noted (still not available to the public) -- and off to Executive Session for (personnel and attorney/client discussion) the board went out at 8:14pm

Returning at 9:45 pm (meaning that the executive session was longer than the initial meeting of the town board) ... The attorney noted with a smile that "No action was taken in Executive Session" -- except that there must have been - because additional line item discussions were reviewed and loaded into a spreadsheet, the numbers were run to determine what the ratable changes would be ... and YEA it was passed (5 to 0). The point at which a citizen can review all the updates and changes, understand a summary, see the line item changes from 2022 -- and provide lucid, well-informed comments is a complete mystery. And the hiring of the Justice Clerk Position, all in the family, was passed (3-2).