Budget season gets underway, police seek part-time detective

By NEAL RENTZ

The Lewisboro Town Board’s discussions of the proposed 2026 budget began Oct. 14 with presentations by three department heads.

Supervisor Tony Gonçalves said he was required to submit his tentative budget to Town Clerk Janet Donohue no later than Oct. 30. His initial proposed spending plan will be presented to the Town Board on Nov. 10, Gonçalves said.

Gonçalves said he wanted to schedule a Town Board work session on the tentative budget in November.

The presentations at this week’s meeting were requests from ≠≠the department heads which will be included in his tentative budget, Gonçalves said. “There’ll be further reviews,” he added. 

Police Chief David Alfano, Recreation Supervisor Nicole Caviola and Facilities Maintenance Manager Joel Smith addressed the board. 

Alfano said he was asking to create a part-time detective position at a cost of $45,000. The position would be for 16 hours per week over two days. If there are no cases for the new hire to work on, the detective could investigate unsolved cases. In addition, the part-time detective could also do work out of the Westchester County Real Time Crime Center, which is a shared service the town has with Westchester County in White Plains, he said.

The total police budget proposed by Alfano for next year is $1.4 million, which would be $111,705 higher than 2025. 

Spending would remain the same for many categories in Alfano’s budget compared to 2025. Most of the increases he proposed are in the contractual and salary lines which he does not control, he told the Town Board. 

Caviola said, “there are not a lot of changes” in her budget proposals for next year. 

Caviola is asking for an additional $6,000 for field and play area maintenance. “We are looking to seed and fertilize the fields,” she said, adding that the category includes several annual maintenance costs and annual inspections.

Her department spent $9,000 for vehicle and equipment repairs so far this year, double what was budgeted for in 2025, Caviola said, noting that she was seeking $9,000 for next year.  

Caviola asked to increase the salary line for day camp counselor salaries from the current year’s $400,000 to $429,000 next year because that state minimum wage is increasing to $17 per hour and she wants the town to stay competitive with other entities that hire youths. She is also asking for additional spending in the event that additional camp counselors need to be hired next year, Caviola said. 

Caviola said her total budget request for next year is $2,723,218, an increase of about $160,000 from the current year.

Smith told the Town Board he was seeking $20,000 for gasoline for the department’s vehicles, which would be $10,000 less than what is included in this year’s budget. His department will spend about $20,000 for gasoline this year, Smith said.

Smith is proposing to increase spending on facilities maintenance from $50,000 this year to $58,000 next year, which will include work on the new building bought by the town earlier this year. The Town Board recently purchased the Old Post Road Professional Building and Annex located at 892 Route 35, Cross River. It had to leave the space it had been renting from the Katonah-Lewisboro School District in the former Lewisboro Elementary School since 2012.