Town Board misses deadline
Still tallying bottom line
by JESSICA L. FINCH
Associate Editor

The clock struck midnight on Monday as the Amherst Town Board scrambled to adopt the 2007 budget -- they fell short. 

"All the clocks on the wall point to 12 a.m., its Nov. 21, you are a day past deadline to adopt the budget," Town Attorney Tom Jones said.

He added that by New York State law the 2007 budget will be the $110 million tentative budget filed by Supervisor Satish Mohan last month, plus any amendments approved by the Town Board before midnight.

Among the mass confusion, final amendments were pushed by board members to restore funding to departments. Falling short were the highway, recreation and planning departments. Two employees will be cut from the planning department by June 30 and the highway department did not receive $1 million in restoration that Superintendent Bob Anderson had sought.

Final numbers on the budget were not available at the end of the meeting. Darlene Carroll from the comptroller's office, as well as other town employees, will be meeting with Mohan on Tuesday to determine the bottom line based on amendments approved during the past two months.

The Town Board spent three and a half hours discussing the budget on Monday before running out of time. All Town budgets must be adopted by the end of Nov. 20.
When the final numbers are announced by the Town, updates will be posted.