RODMAN — The Town Council in its newly passed budget was able to make a slight reduction to the town’s tax rate, as it continues to work with reductions in funding from the Development Authority of the North County regional landfill.

The tax rate will now be $2.45, a reduction of 3 cents from last year’s rate of $2.48. A house worth $50,000 will now see taxes of $122.50, a savings of $1.25. In the new budget, spending for the general fund and highway fund will increase to $1,507,460, a 1.3 percent decrease from last year’s total of $1,527,973.

The budget was passed by the council on Nov. 14.

The tax levy, or amount to be raised by taxes, is 179,539, down from $180,493 in the 2012 budget.

Supervisor Gary R. Stinson noted that the town has struggled with reduced tonnage at the landfill.

“We’re going to have to be very careful in our budgeting process,” Mr. Stinson said. “Hopefully we can manage without it.”

He said for future years, the town may have to reduce staff or increase taxes to make up for the lost revenue.

The town has made reductions to its projections for landfill revenue for two years in a row.

Budgeting $625,000 in revenues for the year, Mr. Stinson reported the town had only received $577,762 for the year.

He said the town was able to make up for the loss with increased sales tax revenue, with the town taking in $175,002 for the year.

The town also found savings of about $10,000 for cutting outside contracts for services like mowing, which will now be done by town employees.

Mr. Stinson said the town’s only purchase would be a pickup truck, which would be mostly funded by the sale of its previous truck.

The council had considered buying a new dump truck, at a cost of $225,000, but unanimously decided to move the decision to next year.

“We didn’t feel like we could justify it this year,” he said.

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