Ithaca Town Supervisor Herb Engman cast the only dissenting votes Thursday night on the town's 2010 budget and on a proposal to spend up to $30,000 on studies of West Hill traffic and development.

The Town Board voted 6-1 to adopt a budget that includes a 3.1 percent increase in spending and a new property tax line to fund the highway department.

In the past, money for the highway fund came exclusively from sales tax. Because of steep drops in sales tax this year, town Budget Officer Al Carvill recommended the town create the new tax.

Engman included the idea in his budget proposal but reduced the general town and fire tax rates by the amount the new highway tax would increase, so the three together represented a 1.87 percent tax levy increase over 2009.

But town board members felt the proposed budget took too much from the town's savings. Engman had proposed to take $1.28 million from savings.

"There are some times when you just need to give the taxpayers some relief," Engman said. "This is the year to do it."

The other board members felt the town shouldn't deplete its savings, especially with uncertain sales tax figures and the likelihood that New York state will continue to increase pension costs.

The board also voted 6-1, with Engman against, to add $15,000 to the budget for study of traffic on West Hill. Another $15,000, added to the budget last year for a town-wide traffic study in relation to the comprehensive plan revision, was earmarked toward West Hill.

The town is considering several large development proposals on West Hill, including the high-end, zero-carbon Carrowmoor development on Route 79, the Holochuck Homes proposal on Route 96, and the intermunicipal Route 96 corridor study, which proposes high-density development around Cayuga Medical Center.

A group of West Hill residents, already upset about traffic in their neighborhoods, asked that the town conduct a study of what traffic would be like if all the proposed developments are built.

Board member and West Hill resident Tee-Ann Hunter said the board "owe(s) it to the existing residents of West Hill to listen to their concerns."

Engman said there have already been many recent studies of traffic: the town's transportation plan two years ago, Cornell University's transportation-focused environmental impact study, and the Route 96 corridor study.

"The fact that people don't accept them doesn't mean the information is invalid," he said.

Board member Rich DePaolo said those plans didn't account for proposed development.

"What happens if you put 6,000 people on West Hill in the next 20 years?" he said.