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Voters adopt new budget in Cornwall

CORNWALL — The annual budget for fiscal year 2024-25 passed unanimously at a Town Meeting held in Cornwall Consolidated School May 17.

Taxes will rise after a year of increased expenses, largely due to weather damage in the summer of 2023. The mill rate for 2024-25 was set at 15.3, an increase of 4.05% compared to last year.

Cornwall’s total expenditure for next year is up to $8,061,110, an increase of $292,537 (3.77%) compared to 2023-24. A new line was added next year for storm damage. The hope is by allocating $100,000 for weather related repairs, the town will not have to dip into the reserve fund like last year.

Total education expenses in Cornwall are up to $4,772,108. The elementary school budget rose $113,319 (4.3%) and Cornwall’s Region One assessment is up by $177,768 (9.62%) compared to last year.

The selectmen’s budget was set at $3,128,979, an increase of $186,290 (6.33%) over 2023-24.

To balance the budget, Cornwall transferred $200,000 from the unassigned general fund. This is less than was transferred last year ($350,000) in an attempt to rebuild the town’s reserves.

Affordable Housing

At the May 17 meeting, Cornwall approved an ordinance to form the Affordable Housing Fund.

The creation of this fund is intended to expedite efforts to build more affordable dwellings in town.

Riley Klein

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Provided

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In “Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir,” published in 2006, author Janice Erlbaum wrote about the years after she left her family’s Brooklyn apartment at 15, moving through shelters, group homes, squats, clubs and the streets of 1980s New York while somehow continuing to attend high school. The book has sold more than 75,000 copies, stayed in print for two decades and continues to find new readers.

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