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Middletown council passes package of renewals, budget transfers and two local laws including alderman pay increase
Summary
The Common Council approved a series of routine resolutions — including senior exemption updates, vendor and insurance renewals, multiple budget transfers and funding acceptances — and passed Local Law No. 3 (director term) and Local Law No. 4 (salary increases), with one abstention on the pay increases.
The Middletown Common Council on Dec. 2 voted to approve a bundle of resolutions covering vendor renewals, grant acceptances and budget transfers, and adopted two local laws concerning city governance and compensation.
Among the measures the council approved were an update to senior‑citizen tax‑exemption income limits, renewal agreements with aerial imagery provider Nearmap and insurance broker Marshall & Sterling, acceptance of STOP‑DWI enforcement funding from Orange County, authorization to accept anti‑violence initiative funding for the police department, and authorization to sell city property on Route 211 to Denise McAteer. The council also approved engineering and architectural contract amendments for courthouse work, an amendment to a CDM Smith engineering contract, and a proposal from Clark Patterson Lee for replacement of the police building roof. Multiple budget transfers were approved, including a transfer in the 2025 fire department budget (amount noted in meeting materials as approximately $885,000), a transfer for landfill odor‑control carbon replacement, water fund chemical cost adjustments and a sewer fund transfer to replace a failed HVAC unit at the treatment plant.
Alderman Kleiner spoke against raising council salaries after an election, saying, "I don't believe in raising salary after an election," and stated he planned to abstain from the salary vote; that abstention was recorded. Other council members who spoke in favor said the increases reflect the workload and bring salaries closer to comparable municipalities. Local Law No. 3 (increasing the term of the director of the Office of Economic and Community Development) and Local Law No. 4 (raising the salaries of the mayor, the common council president and aldermen) were both adopted; Local Law No. 4 passed with one abstention noted by the council minutes.
All routine resolutions and transfers recorded in the meeting minutes carried on roll call unless otherwise noted. Implementation steps for projects calling for contract work or budget changes are assigned to the relevant city departments in the record; specific payment schedules and effective dates are in the resolution texts available from the city clerk.
Votes at a glance (selected, items not exhaustive): senior‑citizen tax‑exemption limits — approved (roll call); Nearmap renewal — approved; Marshall & Sterling renewal — approved; STOP‑DWI funding — approved; anti‑violence funding — approved; $885,000 (approx.) transfer in fire department budget — approved; landfill carbon replacement transfer — approved; water fund chemical cost transfer — approved; sewer HVAC replacement transfer — approved; CDM Smith amendment — approved; police roof proposal — approved; Local Law No. 3 of 2025 — approved; Local Law No. 4 of 2025 (salary increases) — approved (Kleiner abstained); audit and claims authorization — approved.
Council materials and roll‑call tallies are available from the city clerk for precise vote counts or to confirm any amounts.
