The Dukes County commission voted this week to approve a $1.5 million budget for the coming fiscal year. The budget marks a 17.9 per cent decrease over last year due to the state takeover of administrative affairs for the county sheriff’s department. Last year the sheriff’s portion of the county budget totalled $300,000. Under the upcoming budget, total town assessments will drop from $649,279 to $492,739, county manager Martina Thornton told the commission at their meeting Wednesday.

In its management of Norton Point Beach, which is owned by Dukes County, the Trustees of Reservations produced a net surplus of $16,785 in the last fiscal year.

The county will receive more than $3,000 of that money through an agreement with the conservation group. Two years ago, the county enlisted the help of the Trustees to manage Norton Point beach with an agreement that the county would receive 20 per cent of what the group earned at the public beach.

The Dukes County advisory board this week approved a $4.4 million county budget for fiscal year 2006 with one caveat - the $25,000 earmarked for legal expenses cannot be used to fund future rounds in the ongoing legal battle between the county commission and the airport commission.