GLEN SPEY, NY — A cable television franchise bookkeeping error is now expected to all but eliminate any increase in the town portion of residents’ January tax bills, Lumberland Supervisor Jenny Mellan said as she released the town’s tentative 2017 budget on September 14.

Mellan said an audit of Time-Warner Cable (TWC) franchise payments had revealed that the town had received monthly franchise payments of 3% over a six-year period, when the agreement called for 5%. She said the missing 2% amounted to $43,748.

The Cohen Law Group of New York City, which completed the audit earlier, notified TWC of the error in a letter dated September 8. As of last Wednesday’s meeting, the town had received no TWC response to the letter.

The town board earlier in the meeting approved an agreement with the Cohen Law Group, providing legal services at $225 per hour, to pursue recovery of the underpayment.

Mellan said it was her intention to allocate recovered funds to savings, which would go to reduce the local tax levy.

In the budget introduced last week, the tax levy stands at $2,455,068, which aside from the franchise money recovery stands at a $58,648 increase from this year, largely due to a 15% increase in health insurance costs.

The levy is supporting total appropriations of $3,087,116. However, with the recovered franchise funds, Mellan predicted a tax increase of $5 on each $100,000 of assessed value, well under the state tax cap.

Mellan said she hoped to “wrap up” the budget in October and called for budget workshops on September 19 and 21. She thanked all the town departments for submitting proposals early.

In other business, the board declared itself as lead State Environmental Quality Review agency for proposed Local Law #4, a zoning amendment to amend the Mohican Lake zoning overlay; named George Speer to a 2016 vacancy as zoning board of appeals alternate member; and named Douglas Dobzynski to a 2016 vacancy as a planning board member.