Grafton Road Repair May Cost $750,000

by Alex Brooks
The Town of Grafton has received a letter from its engineer, Russ Reeves, detailing the damage to Town roads caused by Hurricane Irene. He describes 26 repair projects with a total estimated cost of just under $600,000. But he anticipates that additional work may be required as the crews progress through the work, and concludes that “the total cost of mitigation could approach $750,000.”
Supervisor Tyler Sawyer said he and Herb Hasbrouck had a preliminary meeting with people from FEMA, and he was pretty confident that most of the cost of repair would be paid by FEMA. These repair projects are supposed to be paid 75% by federal funds, 12.5% by State funds and 12.5% by local municipal funds.
Sawyer said the Town will need to borrow money in anticipation of FEMA assistance, so they can pay contractors and suppliers in a timely way if the FEMA money is held up.
Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck said the culvert for Fox Hollow Road arrived this week, and the collar for the culvert for Steve O’Dell Road also arrived, so he is ready to go ahead with those two projects. He said he has received permits from DEC for all of the projects except one, which needs further engineering work before the permit can be issued. He is still waiting for a culvert for Johnson Road. He said he hopes to install the two culverts that he has already received in the next two weeks.
Route 2
Hasbrouck said Route 2 has definitely been taken off the list of projects to be done this year by the State, and he is concerned that if the State doesn’t get some pressure to get it done, it might not even be done next season. State officials told him they have had a few calls about the urgency of fixing the road but not many. Hasbrouck said the current arrangement using Roark Road will not work well long term, especially when the spring rains come.
Budget
Supervisor Tyler Sawyer presented the tentative budget for 2012 to the Town Board. Total appropriations are $1,102,437. The amount to be raised by taxes will be slightly reduced for both General Fund and Highway Fund, by a combined total of $2,854. In addition, the tax base of the Town has risen over the last year, which allows a slightly lower tax rate. Sawyer said about $100,000 of assessed value has been added over the past year, which equates to over $1 million in true value. He anticipates the tax rate for the General Fund will fall by 1.55% and the tax rate for the Highway Fund by .87%.
Even with the tax reductions, the budget adds funding for veterans, seniors and youth. The veterans’ budget is up by $100, the Seniors’ by $600, and the Youth Program budget is up by over $1,000. The budget also incorporates 3% cost of living raises for all full time Town employees and some part time positions. Sawyer did not raise the salaries of any of the elected positions except Superintendent of Highways.
Sawyer emphasized that he was able to cut taxes and make small increases to the budget because the tax base of the Town has grown, and he commended the Assessor for his work this year. The budget is available for public inspection at the Town Clerk’s office in the Town Hall. There will be budget workshop on Monday, November 7, at 7 pm. There will be a special meeting to set the preliminary budget on Thursday, November 10, at 7 pm, and there will be a Public Hearing for the 2012 budget on Monday, November 14, at 6 pm. On Thursday, November 17, at 7 pm, there will be a Special Meeting to adopt the 2012 budget.
GLSP Master Plan
The Grafton Lakes State Park is working on its Master Plan for future development of the Park. Supervisor Sawyer asked them to hold a hearing on their plans in Grafton rather than at the Tamarac School as they have in the past, and they agreed to have a meeting on November 30 at 7 pm at the Grafton Senior Center.
The biggest thing they are looking at is to have camping. Sawyer said they are planning to put in about 75 camp sites on North Long Pond Road. He said they have been pretty responsive to the concerns of the Town. If people want to influence how these camp sites are done, they should come to the meeting and express themselves.
Amnesty Program Extended
The Board unanimously agreed to extend its amnesty program until November 30, 2011. They said the response has been very good, and the Town would like to give citizens additional time to take advantage of it.
At public comment time David Buckley commended the Town for extending the amnesty but expressed concern about what will happen when the amnesty program is over. He said the Town attorney had talked of “dragging people into court” and he was concerned about this idea.
Supervisor Sawyer said, “Our desire is not to ‘drag’ anyone into court.” He said there is a lot of gray area, and in any situation where there is ambiguity or uncertainty it will be resolved in favor of the homeowner. If the Town has to take anyone to court, it will be because they are clearly not cooperating. Sawyer said the Town intends to take each situation on a case by case basis.
Buckley again asked that the Town laws be put on the web site so people can see them without making a special trip to the Town Hall.
Bonds
The Board approved two bonds. One is a routine Revenue Anticipation bond used for cash flow purposes. The Town will borrow $174,000 in anticipation of money it will soon receive from County sales tax distribution ($70,000), mortgage tax distribution ($28,000) and State CHIPS money ($88,000).
The other bond was to buy a loader on State bid for $131,800. This will be bonded over four years. The Town is making the final payment on a truck bond this December so the bond for the loader will take its place in the Town budget.
The Board also made a budget adjustment to allow for the extensive highway repair work. They increased the highway budget by $200,000 and increased the anticipated Highway revenues by $200,000 in anticipation of revenue from FEMA. Sawyer said they have to do this in order to pay for all the highway repair work that is going on.
Palitsch Road Clean Up
Building Inspector Tom Withcuskey said there are 139 permits outstanding. He has received permission from the owner of the property on Palitsch Road to go on the property to lock it up and clean it up and to inspect it to see if it is structurally sound. It was apparently already in bad shape when water from Hurricane Irene ran through and damaged it further. The Town Highway crew will assist to clean it up. Withcuskey estimated it would only take a few hours with the Town’s equipment.
What the Town expends on the property will be charged back through the County tax bill. Sawyer noted that to get it on this year’s tax bill, the work would have to be completed by mid-November.
Ambulance
The Rescue Squad responded to 9 calls this month – 1 fire related, 1 hemorrhage, 2 psychiatric, 1 traffic accident, 1 sick person, 1 unconscious and 2 chest pain. They put in 67 volunteer hours and traveled 217 miles.
Public Comment
Frank Sbrega said he thought the Town did a great job on the post office.
Theron O’Dell commended the Board for holding the budget down.