COUNTY LAWMAKERS PASS SPENDING PLAN.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: KATE GURNETT Staff writer

County legislators passed a $340.7 million budget Monday after ironing out last-minute details and rejecting Comptroller Michael Conners' late-hour request for his own part-time attorney.

County Executive Michael Breslin's 1998 spending plan holds the line on property taxes, cuts home heating fuel and clothing taxes and hikes public safety spending by $3 million. Without the public safety boost, Breslin could have cut property taxes by 7.5 percent. Instead, he kept the property tax levy at the 1997 level of $39 million. By cutting other positions through attrition, the county work force remains unchanged at 2,985.

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