MALONE — About $1.5 million was slashed from the tentative 2010 Franklin County budget, bringing the initial tax increase of 18.1 percent down to 4.23 percent.

On Thursday, legislators instituted a spending freeze on department heads, telling them to be prepared to defend their reasoning if they want to buy something beyond the bare necessities.

They also said more cutting can be expected in the county after April 1 when Gov. David Paterson reveals his 2010 budget.

The overall tentative 2010 county budget is $111,229,422, an increase of 3.63 percent from this year.

The tax levy, which is the amount to be raised by taxes, is $11,888,218, an increase of 4.23 percent.

Budget Officer and County Manager James Feeley said the initial budget figures he received before filing the tentative budget had the tax levy at about 25 percent, but it was whittled to 18.1 percent. Now it's down near 4 percent.

The average tax rate per $1,000 of assessed-property value in the new budget would be $3.19 compared to $3.15 for 2008-09.

A house assessed at $100,000 would see a tax bill of $319 compared to $315 this year, if the property assessment stays the same.

Legislators used $3.06 million in fund balance and $1.3 million from a special-reserve account to lower the numbers.

The county held a second public hearing on the budget Thursday. No one from the public attended or submitted comments. Three people attended the first session held Wednesday in Saranac Lake.

"I'd like to see us get down to 3 percent," Legislator Gordon Crossman (D-Malone) said of the tax levy.

The county is in the midst of a multi-million-dollar renovation project at the County Courthouse and voted to seek bonding to pay for it.

A review of the county's bond rating by Standard & Poor Rating Service improved from BBB-plus to A-minus with "a stable outlook (that) reflects the county's good financial position and low debt burden."

That translates into a $215,500 reduction in debt payment on the courthouse in 2010.

Legislators also cut $545,000 in program services by cutting department-head budgets by 10 percent across the board.

They also factored in $500,000 in proceeds from a recent land-sale auction and anticipate earning another $100,000 when a second delinquent-property-tax sale is held Nov. 20.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com