HEUVELTON — The town of Oswegatchie has a tentative 2013 budget, a $2.1 million spending plan with a 12.8 percent tax decrease.

Meeting Monday, the town board voted 5-0 in favor of the $2,091,701 tentative spending plan and its tax rate of $2.66 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The tentative budget is $37,833 less than the 2012 budget of $2,129,534, which carried a tax rate of $3.05.

In the budget, the town’s taxable value rose $34 million, to $223,767,278 from this year’s $189,755,568, a 17.9 percent increase. The town conducted an assessment revaluation earlier this year. The budget includes $65,000 earmarked for legal challenges to it, an appropriation that might or might not be sufficient.

The public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Town Hall, 51 State St. It must be adopted by Nov. 20.

Budget Officer William E. Dashnaw said it was worth noting that the town succeeded at both keeping costs and taxes down.

“Twenty years and you haven’t seen a spike,” he said.

Mr. Dashnaw also noted that the town managed to stay under the state-imposed 2 percent cap on property tax increases.

“You want to stay under the tax cap,” he said. “That’s my direction. It’s under the tax cap.”

Board member Lillian O. LaRose commended Mr. Dashnaw for keeping the town “on the right track” financially.

“You think for the taxpayer,” she said. “We’re all in this together.”

“Who knows where that’s going to go?” Mr. Dashnaw said.

Also, the board agreed to raise from $25,000 to $26,500 the annual salary of the successor to Town Clerk Janet M. Wheater, who is retiring Dec. 31.

Also, the town’s annual contract to provide fire protection to Heuvelton and Morristown will cost, respectively, $106,138 and $17,500 for a total expense of $123,638.

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