BAINBRIDGE – The Town of Bainbridge is taking preliminary measures that stakeholders hope will build vision for the township, rebuild its economic base, and provide a roadmap to guide it through the next ten years.

But with fiscal restraints, the Bainbridge Town Board is reaching out for help. Last week, town board member Kelly Hromada-Johnson made a case before the county’s Planning and Economic Development Committee, requesting that the county consider a sizable contribution to help Bainbridge defray costs of modernizing its outdated comprehensive plan.

“The comprehensive plan we have now no longer reflects the Town of Bainbridge,” Hromada-Johnson told committee members. “We really need to update it because that's what helps us to form our public policy and set goals and aspirations.”

The town’s existing comprehensive plan was adopted in 1998 and last updated in 2003. With changes seen within the Town and Village of Bainbridge over the years, primarily in the areas of industry and infrastructure, Hromada-Johnson said there’s a need to bring the plan up to speed.

It is recommended by the New York State Department of State that municipalities update a comprehensive plan every three to five years.

Bainbridge taxpayers footed $5,000 to have their comprehensive plan completed in the late 1990’s. That price is expected to range between $5,000 and $7,000 this time around, estimates Bainbridge Town Supervisor Dolores Nabinger.