by Bea Peterson
Property re-evaluation was one of three topics Hoosick Rising is hoping to tackle through the summer Hoosick Falls Mayor David Borge and Town of Hoosick Supervisor Mark Surdam told the crowd of 45 that gathered at Brown’s Brewery in Walloomsac on Wednesday, June 3 for the meeting.
[private] Town Assessor and Village acting Assessor Tony Rice said the last time a Village re-evaluation had been done was 50 years ago. The last Town re-evaluation was done 35 years ago.
Both Borge and Surdam agreed a joint re-evaluation will be costly, in the range of $250,000 to $275,000. Both admitted there is no funding for this and Borge said he would be talking with NYS Senator Kathy Marchione in Cambridge on Friday regarding such a project. Surdam said a re-evaluation is key to economic development. For some taxes are very high, they agreed, and it’s not fair. They also agreed some people will be very unhappy. Meeting attendee Dennis Casey said, “it’s all about fair play.” He asked if there would then be one assessment for both the Town and the Village and Rice said yes, it would be one assessment. Borge said, the bottom line is “we’re all in this together.” Many in the room felt this was an important project that should be undertaken.
Hoosick Rising, Borge and Surdam told the group, has 40 projects local residents are interested in tackling. However, the three key items to be worked on through the summer to make the Town and Village better and more inviting places to live are property re-evaluation, improved broadband and zombie properties.
John Carnett of Bouncelinx told the group he had 103 installs ready to go for improved Boardband. He has put a tower application in to the ZBA. He said he couldn’t be happier with Hoosick Rising and those involved. Jason Guzzo of Hudson Valley Wireless, a competitive wireless business, reminded everyone at the meeting to fill out the County forms on internet service in the area so that the need for such service can be shown.
Mayor Borge said the Village would be working diligently through the summer with banks and property owners to do something about vacant and abandoned properties, called “zombie properties.” There are 30 to 35 in the community.
Both Borge and Surdam did a terrific job of touting all the reasons Hoosick and Hoosick Falls are a good community in which to live.
Surdam said work on the pool was finished and it would be opened for the season on June 20. He said the safety report on the Castle Playground is in the hands of the Town of Hoosick Kiwanis and he hoped the community would pitch in to help them restore the play area to what it was 20 plus years ago when so many families pitched in to help build it originally. He added that the Lions Club has shown an interest in organizing a fund raiser for a slide at the pool. A slide was not budgeted as the cost is between $15,000 and $30,000. He would like to see community support on this project as well.
Mayor Borge said the covered landfill, which is good for very little, will soon have 1,900 solar panels on it. Some of that energy will be used to power all the street lamps in the Village at an estimated savings to the Village of $45,000 annually.
The Mayor went on to say how attractive the Greenway is for residents and visitors who can walk or bicycle from one end of the Village to the other on it. This Friday the newly-added Skorupski property will be dedicated at 4 pm.
Borge also noted that the re-established Local Development Corporation has $115,000 in low interest loan money to offer to new businesses looking for a start in Hoosick and Hoosick Falls.
He added that the Village has hired a Code Violations prosecutor who will go to Court to make sure property owners are held accountable for the condition of their properties. [/private]