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Riverdale Park's proposed fiscal 2010 budget allocates money for the town's reserves, as well as ends the current freeze on overtime pay and the need for town-wide employee furloughs.

The proposed budget maintains the real property tax rate as 64.1 cents per every $100 of assessed value.

The $4.7 million budget would add about $268,000 to the town's reserve fund of about $600,000. No money was set aside to increase reserves in the approved fiscal 2009 budget.

In January, the Town Council approved a week of furloughs for all town employees to increase the town's dwindling reserves, saving $44,000. Other budgets cuts included an overtime freeze and privatizing trash collection.

Mayor Vernon Archer said the proposed budget ensures the town's finances are in good condition.

"If we have less than two months of reserves available, that's where we need to act," he said. "We should be back into a position by the end of next fiscal year where we should have soundly more than two months of operating revenue."

The budget also would cut administrative staff salaries from about $323,253 to $247,529, due to eliminating the deputy town administrator position, which is currently filled by Penny Guzman Mendoza, and cutting the town administrator's salary. Current Town Administrator Patrick Prangley is set to retire after 30 years in October and the council is searching for a replacement.

"We're conducting a search, sort of a nationwide search, so I think the expectation is to bring someone on board. But anyone is welcome to apply," Councilwoman Katherine Sharpe (Ward 2) said.

Mendoza couldn't be reached for comment.

Archer said the decision to eliminate the position was mainly a financial one.

"I felt we had to trim some place," Archer said. "There are certainly some concerns that a number of the functions are redundant."

The proposed budget also includes $95,000 money to purchase three new police cruisers that will replace three aging cars, Prangley said.

Police Chief Teresa Chambers said during a May 18 finance committee meeting that her department is applying for more than $1 million in grants, which would pay for, in part, an additional police officer and dispatcher. The department currently has 18 officers and four full-time dispatchers.

Prangley said he anticipates the council will approve the budget in early June. The next public hearing on the budget and tax rate is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall, located at 5008 Queensbury Road.

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.