Hein presented the 2010 budget a month ago

KINGSTON – Ulster County Executive Michael Hein Thursday said an independent evaluation of his proposed 2010 county budget for the county legislature proves it is a sound fiscal plan for these tough economic times.

The county executive said the state should take a lesson from his administration.

“I’m calling on the New York State Legislature, both sides of the aisle, to do exactly the same type of thing, to make their budget decisions with this in mind: the taxpayers of Ulster County and the taxpayers of New York State are demanding that they not rely on budget gimmicks, that they simply step forward and make the difficult choices that the times require, the same kind of choices American families are making every single day,” he said.

The audit by the Bennett, Kielson, Storch, DeSantis firm said the budget was balanced, reasonable and makes many tough decisions.

The consultants did raise what Democrat Legislator Jeanette Provenzano called some ‘red flags’ about 2011, in large part because of reliance on $5 million in stimulus money, and reducing the fund balance, in an attempt to keep the 2010 property tax increase to a minimum, about 3.5 percent.

“It’s a big concern; we’re going over all of that now”, said Provenzano.