Ariel Zangla is reporting in the Daily Freeman the proposed $103 million 2014 Greene County budget would increase the county property tax levy 7.1 percent over the plan adopted for the current fiscal year. The tentative $103 million budget was presented during a special meeting of the Legislature, Wed., Nov. 6. Under the tentative budget, spending would increase 2.5 percent. Lawmakers said the actual tax levy increase was 6.3 percent, but an explanation was not immediately available to the press. Coxsackie Legislator Charles Martinez, the county’s budget officer, called the tentative spending plan a “status quo budget.” The budget calls for the elimination of 11 positions effective Jan. 1, with another seven positions being eliminated through attrition. A public hearing on the tentative budget will be held 7 p.m., Nov. 18, at Catskill High School. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.