Taxes in the town of Bath will increase an average of 6.4 percent as a result of the 2010 budget passed Monday by the Town Board.

The $3.3 million spending plan includes a $1.5 million levy. Town residents will see an increase of 50 cents per $1,000 full value. Residents in the villages of Savona and Bath will see a hike of 25 cents per $1,000 full value.

Town Supervisor Fred Muller said the owner of a $50,000 home in town, after the equalization rate is applied, will pay $24.82 more in taxes in 2010. An owner of a $50,000 property in a village will pay about $12.50 more after equalization, he said.

Property owners in both the town and villages are at 50 percent valuation and must be brought up to 100 percent for taxes. 

The budget also includes 4 percent wage increases for all union and non-union employees.

At a public hearing before the board voted on the budget, several residents questioned the pay hikes, with one man saying town employees are already among the highest paid municipal employees in the area.

Muller said the man had been misinformed and offered to show him reports on municipal salaries.

John Lysczyn said many residents in the area will receive no wage increases, and the board should have exercised control over non-union salaries.

“If this was up for a public vote, and you folks know this, it would never pass,” Lysczyn said. “You’d have had to make the cuts.”

Councilwoman Robin Lattimer said keeping non-union salaries low would have made little difference to the tax rate. She estimated the increases for employees not covered by the labor contract amount to three cents per $1,000.

Muller said the final budget was the result of weeks of hard work.

“We started out at 20 percent,” he said. “We got it down to this.”

Other increases in spending include 5 percent more for salt and sand expenses for the highway department, according to Muller.

One key reduction in 2010 costs was paring the highway department’s equipment fund by more than $100,000, Muller said.

The town signed on to a new health insurance program that offset union –mandated increases by lowering costs for other employees and retirees.

Muller, Lattimer and councilmen William Glosick and Dean Kropp voted for the budget.

Councilman Albert Burns, who earlier opposed the non-union wage increase voted against the budget.