BEDFORD, N.Y. - A $40 million tentative budget, the first draft of Bedford’s 2026 spending plans, went to the Town Board this week with some lines already needing significant modification.
Those were the lines that contained $1.77 million in aid for the town’s three libraries, a total residents rejected in voting that ended on Tuesday (Nov. 4). By an almost 4-1 margin, they supported instead $2.62 million in library aid and the property taxes to pay it.
As adopted at the board’s Nov. 5 meeting, the budget totaled $40,055,521 in expenditures for next year, including $1,788,845 to aid the town’s three libraries. That increased spending by 4.33 percent, supported by a tax-cap-compliant 2.12 percent increase, to $43.66 for each $1,000 of assessed value, in the property-tax rate.
In voting that ended on Election Day, however, residents rejected the board’s proposed library funding. They ordered a hike of more than $800,000 over the town’s current allocation to $2,628,845 in aid for the three nonprofits.
Supervisor Ellen Calves said the budget changes will be made at the board’s Nov. 18 meeting, with a public hearing set for December.
A separate library line on homeowners’ property tax bills will add $1.39 for each $1,000 of assessed value but it will not, Comptroller Brian Kenneally said, impact tax-cap calculations.
Library aid will remain $2.6 million until changed in a future community vote. Until this year, Bedford’s libraries had relied on allocations voted by the Town Board. But Albany’s imposition in 2012 of an annual ceiling on increases in the town’s property-tax levy has sharply limited contributions to the libraries.
Library trustees initiated the funding change by filing paperwork last July that put the question on the November ballot instead of in the board’s hands. They divvied up the money in advance of the vote. Bedford Free Library will receive $766,999; Bedford Hills Free Library, $810,058, and Katonah Village Library, $1,051,788.
Stop signs installed as a test last summer at two Babbitt Road intersections were approved as permanent traffic controls after a public hearing.
The signs require full stops in both directions where Babbitt Road meets Franklin Avenue and on Franklin. Stop signs are also in place at Glen Road’s intersection with Babbitt Road and on Babbitt Road westbound at Glen Road.
Celebrating History
The board heard an update from Anne Foray, who chairs the steering committee of Rev Up ’26, a community coalition formed “to celebrate how the seeds of self-governance and free will planted in the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago have blossomed into a town vibrant with commerce, volunteerism, artistic endeavor and civic participation.”
Committee Appointments
Steph Lang has been appointed to a three-year term on the Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee, ending Dec. 21, 2028. Maria Marcogliese, Robert Murray and Nancy Bellini were also reappointed t0 three-year terms. Christina Magidson will step down from the commission, effective Dec. 21.
Charles Naranjo has been appointed to a three-year term on the Wetlands Control Commission, effective Jan. 20. He will serve until that date as an alternate member.
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