Pine Plains approves 2026 budget

Pine Plains approves 2026 budget

Town Supervisor Brian Walsh set a public forum to discuss the new Pine Plains Town Hall design for Dec. 10 at the Pine Plains Community Center above the Pine Plains Free Library on Route 82.

Illustration Provided

PINE PLAINS — Members of the Town Board approved the 2026 Town Budget at the regular Thursday meeting on Nov. 20.

The increase to the Pine Plains Free Library revenue was the only change since the public hearing on Nov. 6.

Of the biggest line item increases was the sidewalk budget — which climbed to $30,000 from $4,000 in last year’s budget in anticipation of a sidewalk overhaul through downtown Pine Plains.

Overall, budgeted expenses for the town government increased 4% compared to the 2025 Town Budget.

Board members followed the budget approval with a discussion of the new Town Hall. LaBella engineers presented early conceptual drawings of the Town Hall at an October meeting of the Town Board. Board members expressed satisfaction with the preliminary plans, but board member Jeanine Sisco pressed for extended discussions of the interior plans.

“I think the outside design looks good,” Sisco said. “I think that the interior — there should be some discussion about space utilization.”

Supervisor Brian Walsh set a public forum for community feedback on the plans for Thursday, Dec. 10, at 6 p.m. The forum will be hosted at the Pine Plains Community Center on Route 82.

Town Attorney Warren Replansky led the meeting with a brief discussion of short-term rental laws. He said he sent members of the town board example local laws from Rhinebeck, New York, and Pleasant Valley, New York.

Highway Superintendent Carl Baden said in his report the town’s Kubota tractor was in disrepair and needed replacement. The Town Board voted to sell the old tractor and Supervisor Brian Walsh asked Baden to assemble specifications for a New Holland tractor to replace it. Baden estimated a purchase price of $200,000 for the tractor.

Latest News

Where the mat meets the market

Where the mat meets the market
Kathy Reisfeld
Elena Spellman

In a barn on Maple Avenue in Great Barrington, Kathy Reisfeld merges two unlikely worlds: wealth management and yoga, teaching clients and students alike how stability — financial and emotional — comes from practice.

Her life sits at an intersection many assume can’t exist: high finance and yoga. One world is often reduced to greed, the other to “woo-woo” stretching. Yet in conversation, she makes both feel grounded, less like opposites and more like two languages describing the same human need for stability.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

To mow or not to mow?

To mow or not to mow?

A partially mowed meadow in early spring provides habitat for wildlife while helping to keep invasive plants in check.

Dee Salomon

Love it or hate it, there is no denying the several blankets of snow this winter were beautiful, especially as they visually muffled some of the damage they caused in the first place.There appears to be tree damage — some minor and some major — in many places, and now that we can move around, the pre-spring cleanup begins. Here, a heavy snow buildup on our sun porch roof crashed onto the shrubs below, snapping off branches and cleaving a boxwood in half, flattening it.

The other area that has been flattened by the snow is the meadow, now heading into its fourth year of post-lawn alterations. A short recap on its genesis: I simply stopped mowing a half-acre of lawn, planted some flowering plants, spread little bluestem seeds and, far less simply, obsessively pluck out invasive plants such as sheep sorrel and stilt grass. And while it’s not exactly enchanting, it is flourishing, so much so that I cannot bring myself to mow.

Keep ReadingShow less
Capitol hosts first-ever staging of Civil War love story

Playwright Cinzi Lavin, left, poses with Kathleen Kelly, director of ‘A Goodnight Kiss.’

Jack Sheedy

Litchfield County playwright Cinzi Lavin’s “A Goodnight Kiss,” based on letters exchanged between a Civil War soldier and the woman who became his wife, premiered in 2025 to sold-out audiences in Goshen, where the couple once lived. Now the original cast, directed by Goshen resident Kathleen Kelly, will present the play beneath the gold dome of Connecticut’s Capitol in Hartford as part of the state’s America250 commemoration — marking what organizers believe may be the first such performance at the Capitol.

“I don’t believe any live performances of an actual play (at the Capitol) have happened,” said Elizabeth Conroy, administrative assistant at the Office of Legislative Management, who coordinates Capitol events.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hunt Library launches VideoWall for filmmakers

Yonah Sadeh, Falls Village filmmaker and curator of David M. Hunt Library’s new VideoWall.

Robin Roraback

The David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village, known for promoting local artists with its ArtWall, is debuting a new feature showcasing filmmakers. The VideoWall will premiere Saturday, March 28, at 6 p.m. with a screening of two short films by Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker and animator Imogen Pranger.

The VideoWall is the idea of Falls Village filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, who also serves as curator. “I would love the VideoWall to become a place that showcases the work of local filmmakers, and I hope that other creatives in the area will submit their work to be shown,” he said.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.