Petersburgh Town Board Action – Road Washouts May Raise Petersburgh Taxes

by Alex Brooks
At the Petersburgh Town Board meeting on Monday, August 19, Town Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst introduced a resolution to allow the Town to exceed the State mandated 2% tax cap because, he warned, the Town may have a significant budget problem this season. This is primarily because of extraordinary expenditures repairing roads which were washed out by a short but intense rainstorm at the end of May. [private]Normally, when acts of nature cause such extensive damage, the State or Federal government helps with the cost of rebuilding, but perhaps because this storm was so localized, there has been no disaster declaration or FEMA response. A recently passed State bill aiding several other counties hard hit by rain last spring did not include Rensselaer County, and Supervisor Krahforst said he does not expect any federal or State aid to assist the Town with these expenses. The only help the Town has received was from the Berlin Highway Department.
No one has offered any estimates yet of the total cost of these road repairs. In addition to road materials such as rock and gravel, there were a lot of new culverts needed. The Town hired Duane Goodermote to put in some of the culverts.
Krahforst also said he expects the cost of demolishing the old garage on Main Street to come to about $25,000. This money will eventually be reimbursed by the County, but Krahforst was not sure when that would happen. He reported that the Town Bookkeeper is warning him that there may not be much money left at the end of the year so there may not be much fund balance available to use for tax reduction. Last year the Town used about $105,000 of its fund balance towards reduction of the tax levy.
Councilmen Bill Seel and Duane Goodermote were, at least for this meeting, not in favor of passing a resolution to allow the Town to exceed the 2% tax cap. Goodermote said he thought there was a three year tax cap that could not be overridden by a vote of the Board, and he wanted to research that before acting on Krahforst’s resolution. Seel said he thought the Town should cut expenditures elsewhere to make up for the over-budget spending on the road repairs.
Councilman David Alderman was not present. Supervisor Krahforst said he had a letter from Alderman which, he said, he didn’t feel comfortable reading publicly at this time, and he added that some of the statements Alderman makes in the letter are “not quite correct.” The public has not yet learned what the topic of Alderman’s letter was.
Since there clearly were not enough votes to pass a tax cap override, the resolution was tabled.
Road Gravel
Supervisor Krahforst reported that Sean O’Donovan came up to his house to express his displeasure about the Town not buying his gravel. O’Donovan said he was the low bidder for gravel, the Town accepted his bid and his material is approved by the State DOT and is being used on State road projects. He wanted to know why the Town is traveling farther to buy higher priced gravel. Krahforst said he can’t tell the Highway Superintendent what to do – the Superintendent is elected by the voters and must answer to the voters, not to the Town Supervisor. He said O’Donovan didn’t like that answer.
Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison said O’Donovan didn’t have enough material on hand one day when he was drawing from there, so he sent the trucks down to Hammersmith’s pit in Cherry Plain. He also said O’Donovan’s gravel has “too many stones” in it.
O’Donovan said he did not run short of material, and he never knew why the trucks stopped drawing from his pit that day. He said he uses a 2″ screen to make a product called “item 4,” which the Town has been buying for decades. If the Town wants him to use a smaller screen, he said, he is happy to do so but Harrison has never expressed to him any dissatisfaction with his material.
Caucus Time
Town Councilmen Bill Seel and Duane Goodermote have both said they do not intend to run for another term on the Town Board. The Petersburgh Republican Caucus will take place this Friday, August 23, at 7 pm at the Veterans Memorial Hall. Gene Kluck is challenging incumbent Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison for the Republican nomination for that position.
The Petersburgh Democratic Caucus will be held Monday, September 9, at 7 pm at the Veterans Memorial Hall. Denise Church is seeking the Democratic nomination for one of the Town Council seats.
Ethics Board
Ethics Board Chairperson Deidra Michaels said her committee had submitted a revised Code of Ethics to Town Attorney Kevin Engel and were awaiting his response. She said the committee has started online training. They finished the investigation of Complaint #5, and they will now begin work investigating Complaint #6. The content of Complaint #5 was not disclosed. Supervisor Krahforst said they would discuss it in Executive Session because it is a personnel matter.
Michaels announced that the Ethics Committee will hold office hours in the Town Hall every Wednesday from 9 am to 1 pm.
Other Matters
• Krahforst said Mr. Burdick had finished his work on the basement wall and after a recent rainstorm it was “bone dry” in the basement, so he feels the basement moisture problem has been solved.
• Krahforst said he had contacted Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino about the building at 103 Millyard because his contact in the Real Estate bureau never returned his calls, and she promised the County would come soon and take down that building.
• Krahforst said there was a mysterious smell in the basement of the Town Hall and he and others searched for the source of it for weeks before they finally found two containers with something rotten in them, They were removed, and the smell is gone.
• Krahforst said the Planning Board is expecting the resignation of Jim Votra and will soon be looking for a new person to appoint to a seat on that Board. Anyone who is interested in serving is encouraged to contact the Town Clerk. [/private]