Emilia Teasdale is reporting for The Columbia Paper Kinderhook Town Supervisor Pat Grattan October 14, presented a proposed 2020 town budget to the town board. He called the proposed spending plan “a wish list," noting the board must get the budget under the state-mandated tax cap. Although Teasdale did not provide a budget total, she does report the budget line for the Valatie Rescue Squad will increase by $100,000 next year. VRS Executive Director Scott Bowman said the squad has been running in the red for several years and this year the squad is faced with a $115,000 deficit. “The cost of providing the service has just sky rocketed," he said. The rescue squad employs 35 people, 12 of them work full time, and receives funding from the towns of Kinderhook, Stuyvesant, Chatham, Ghent and Stockport. Bowman said VRS has not asked for an increase in funding for five or six years, but now, he said, “We’re just not going to be able to make it.” The town board will conduct budget workshops October 15 and October 21; the board will also host a special meeting November 6, to vote on the 2020 budget. Read the full story in the Columbia Paper.