NORWICH – The Town of Norwich’s 2010 budget cuts back around $150,000 in spending in the wake of decreased sales tax revenue and next year’s unreliable state aid estimates. The proposed budget shrinks from $1,369,050 in 2009 to $1,218,418 in 2010.

Town of Norwich Supervisor David C. Law said struggling auto sales, a weak real estate market and a lack of state highway aid were many of the factors that impacted the town.

Under the budget approved by the town board last week, there will be no general tax in 2010 again, but property owners will see a 2 cent rise per $1,000 in value for increased highway costs, bringing the amount to just under .76 cents per $1,000. In the 2009 budget, the highway tax was lowered 24 cents per $1,000 from the 2008 budget.

“I think the budget came in very good shape for the times. We’ll see which way the revenue blows in from next year, but this year I think we did pretty well with what we had to work with,” said Norwich Deputy Supervisor and Councilman Charles W. Brooks.

The town’s tentative highway budget for next year is $363,532, $60,930 less than last year’s $424,462. The municipality cut routine road repair in half from about $130,000 in 2009 to $70,000 in 2010, saying the town had done more road work this year than expected. Also, an equipment replacement fund will only receive $17,500 in the 2010 budget, much less than the approximately $60,000 contributed to it annually.