By David Flint
Berlin’s 2015 budget, adopted on November 13, was made official and legal at the Town Board meeting last Thursday. In an action called “Nunc pro tunc” (now for then), the Board passed a “Statement of Necessity” resolution that dispenses with the normal 30-day “seasoning” of a local law. They then adopted Local Law #1 of 2015 that overrides the 2% tax cap and ratifies this year’s budget. [private]The Board had been informed by State auditors in December that the budget, which had a 14.9% tax levy increase, should have been preceded by passing a law to override. Simply passing a resolution to override was deemed not sufficient. Since passing a law also requires holding a public hearing, the Board meeting on Thursday was duly preceded by a public hearing, though no one from the public had anything to say.
As with many State mandates, there seems to be a lot of confusion about the tax cap. The Stephentown Town Board also passed an override resolution prior to adopting their budget and was told subsequently that they needed to pass a local law. However, they were also told that no public hearing was needed because the public hearing they had for the budget would suffice. Berlin Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger said the whole business is still unclear and needs clarification. Apparently the Board needs to determine in August whether it looks like the budget will exceed the tax cap. If so, they would need to pass an override law, but one advisor says you can’t reverse the law so it’s unclear what needs to be done if it turns out the Town finds it can adopt a budget that stays within the cap.
TRACS Gets Support
Biffy Cahill and Juliena D’Alessio, a Berlin High School junior, made a presentation to the Board about the work of the TRACS (Together Reducing Alcohol & Drugs in our CommunitieS) organization and the Berlin Youth To Youth group. TRACS was founded in 2009, Cahill said, after school surveys showed Berlin Middle and High School youth as possibly the highest users of drugs and alcohol in Rensselaer County. Progress has been made and Berlin now ranks in the surveys as one of the lowest users in the County. D’Alessio reported that the percentage of kids using alcohol, according to the surveys, has dropped from 29% in 2010 to 20% in 2014. Marijuana use had a more modest drop, from 16% to about 13%. More needs to be done. One of the disturbing results of the 2014 survey indicated that Berlin youth, more so than elsewhere in the County, feel that the community in general doesn’t get too upset about high schoolers using drugs and alcohol.
D’Alessio spoke of attendance at Youth To Youth conferences and how they build self confidence in those attending and inspire them to bring back the message of drug and alcohol free living to their communities. In their first years TRACS had a grant that enabled them to pay to send students to the conferences. In the past two years they have attracted sponsors for some of the required funds, but not enough was raised. This year, Cahill said, they are asking each of the towns in the Berlin School District to enter into a contract to send two students to the Youth to Youth International Eastern States Conference at Bryant University in Rhode Island scheduled for July 20 to August 2, 2015. The students would commit to working with Town organizations such as the Youth Commission and the Library at teen events, presentations, workshops and the like to present their message to their peers.
Consensus on the Board being that it was definitely a worthwhile contract, they passed a resolution to enter into it, providing $850 to sponsor two students from the Town of Berlin to attend the Conference. The money will come from the Youth Commission budget.
Highway Department
Highway Superintendent Jim Winn reported, “We’re plowing snow and fixin’ stuff. You can’t run stuff every day and no time to look at it.” He added that there had been electrical problems and a failed fuel pump on one of the trucks but they had been able to get things fixed. The crew had been drawing sand when not plowing. They had a lot of sand stockpiled, “but it’s pretty hard,” he said.
Winn reported too that a bid had been received and accepted for the Town’s surplus power screen on the online site Auctions International. The bid was $23,300 and the money will go to the Highway Fund. Jaeger suggested that the Town’s old 1983 Mack plow truck should also be sold at Auctions International. Councilman Dean Maxon entered a motion to do this and it passed by unanimous vote.
Quiet
Jim Winn reported that all is quiet in Water District 2. “Sure, it’s frozen!” quipped Councilman Steve Riccardi.
“Everything is quiet,” in dog control land, reported Doug Goodermote.
“Solar is busy but otherwise it’s pretty quiet,” in code enforcement, said Allan Yerton.
“Everything’s quiet,” at the Transfer Station, reported Bud Hall. He did add that a new sign might be needed because people are complaining they can’t see the one that’s there now.
Jaeger wanted people to be aware that it has always been a requirement at the Transfer Station that customers have their placard visible on the the dash in the vehicle window. If it is not visible the attendants must ask to see it and if it can’t be produced you can’t dump your trash. “It must be displayed,” he said.
Youth Commission
Tammy Osterhout reported that the summer recreation program is tentatively scheduled to begin on July 15 and run for three weeks. She will probably need to hire one counselor who is 18 years or older to replace one who is leaving. For the swim program she is unsure if she has a director for that yet. She said she would check to see if the Hoosick pool will be available for Berlin’s 60 kids, but failing that she will make arrangements for a program at Grafton Lakes State Park. A program there would cost the Town only for transportation. Jaeger and Riccardi said they would favor Grafton anyway
Osterhout said TRACS made a good presentation and she could probably make use of the sponsored TRACS students in various ways, starting perhaps at the March 29 Easter Egg hunt.
Watipi Building And Former Highway Garage
Jaeger said that the Watipi Building and the former Highway Garage were discussed at the last workshop meeting. It was decided to have an appraisal done on both buildings so the Town knows what they are worth if put up for sale. In addition the Board will determine what it would cost to repair them and then review options.
New Computer
Jaeger reported that the Bookkeeper’s computer was blacking out and needed to be replaced. A new one was purchased for $998. Jaeger said that the accounting software will also have to be replaced. Currently the bookkeeper is using a ten year old version. The new version will cost $395.
Help For Center Berlin Cemetery
Doug Goodermote asked if the Town could help out the Center Berlin Cemetery Association, a non-profit organization, with spring cleanup. Disposal of waste materials was a problem, he said. Jaeger said the Association could use the dumpster at the Municipal Complex.
Frustration With Big Brother
A question from Billy Hammersmith about the Town’s long range plans for replacing equipment led to a lengthy airing of Town officials’ frustration with the State. Jaeger responded that the Board has been discussing replacing the F-550 one-ton dump truck at an estimated cost of $110,000 and the bucket loader at maybe $250,000, but the economics are staggering.
Jaeger said it seems Governor Cuomo is trying to drive all the towns into bankruptcy. “We really didn’t want as big an increase in the tax levy this year,” he said, “but you can’t keep doing zero budgets. If you do, you wipe out the reserve funds.” Staying within the tax cap, he said, would have netted the Town in additional tax income a whopping $6,000. The increase the Town had to pay just for health care was more than that. The Governor, he said, seems to want the towns to somehow spend less in the face of cost increases everywhere, pass zero increase budgets and run the town with no reserves. “You can’t run a business or anything that way,” he said. The Board did tap the fund balance this year but to a considerably lesser extent than in previous years. Not touching the reserves at all would have resulted in a 24% tax increase. Taxpayers see double digits as outrageous, but the Town could not continue going as it was. If you keep tapping the reserves as they had been, there would be nothing left to deal with any major crisis. Yet that seems to be exactly what the tax cap is designed to do, Jaeger said – zero budgets – no tax increase – no reserves. And mandates keep coming through with no funding. The mandate relief that was supposed to accompany the tax cap has somehow disappeared. Jaeger noted that Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino has repeatedly pointed out that 90% off every dollar taken in by the County is for NYS mandates. “Everything is thrown down hill on us,” he declared. Towns are somehow expected to do more with less, yet, according to an attorney at the Association of Towns, the most efficient government in New York State is already, by far, local government. Then there is the preaching from above about shared services. “But our guys have been sharing services for 30 years,” Jaeger said.
Jaeger said it was frustrating too that some people think that Berlin’s new municipal facility is the problem. “This facility didn’t drive the cost,” he said, “It’s been coming for years.” After about six years in a row of budgets close to zero, or even negative in one year, and in the face of ever rising costs, “We had to catch up to where we should have been five years ago.[/private]