Adopted Petersburgh Budget Will Increase Tax Levy By 4.85%
by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board unanimously passed its budget for 2016, which was unchanged since the November 2 public hearing (described in an article in the November 6 edition of The Eastwick Press). [private]Total spending is $1,183,698 including the General Fund, Highway Fund, Library, Fire District, two Lighting Districts and the Water District. Revenues from all these funds together is anticipated to be $354,381, so $749,317 remains to be collected in taxes, after $90,000 in unexpended funds from 2015 is applied to reduce the tax levy.
The tax levy is 4.85% higher than last year.
Prior to passing the 2016 budget, the Board passed a local law overriding the State tax cap, usually described as a 2% tax cap, but actually in this case the tax cap was well under 1%.
Manufactured Homes Law
The Board passed the Manufactured Homes Law which has been in development since the beginning of the year.
It has been vetted and approved by the Town Attorney and the County Planning Department. The law is just four pages long, the first two pages being definitions of the various types of homes – Manufactured homes, Recreational Vehicles, “micro homes,” and so on.
Manufactured homes must comply with HUD construction and safety standards, and comply with NYS building code. They must have Rensselaer County Health Dept. approval for water and septic. Installation must be done by an installer licensed and certified by NY State. Foundations must be below the frost line, or on architect/engineer designed “frost free” foundation, and a rigid skirt must be installed.
Replacement of mobile homes carries essentially the same requirements. The full text of the law is available from the Town Clerk.
The Board considered rules for the Town Park which ban alcohol, open fires, fireworks, firearms, glass bottles, and unregistered vehicles. There was some discussion of these things and some differences of opinion, so the matter was tabled pending further discussion.
There was also extensive discussion on a draft employee handbook of the Town’s employment policies, especially in the area of how vacation time and sick time accrues, and whether unused vacation time can be rolled over into the next year. There were many different ideas on this and it became clear that the Board needed more discussion both among themselves and with the Highway Superintendent, before it could be acted on.
Highway
Highway Superintendent Rob Cottrell said he has a 50-50 mixture of salt and washed sand ready to go to be used on the paved roads to reduce dust. He said he rebuilt the sander box on the Ford F450 for under $1,000 in materials.
Peter Schaaphok asked him about the “horrible” condition of East Hollow Road and Dill Brook Road, which are both County Roads. Cottrell said the County was paving on East Hollow Road this week, and the Town of Petersburgh provided a truck and a driver to assist the County with the work. But Cottrell said County Engineer Scott Gallerie told him the County Highway Dept has just 200 tons of material to pave with, and that’s it. After that is used up they will just be filling potholes.
Schaaphok said the County seems to have plenty of money and material to repave roads in the western side of the County. He said in addition to wear and tear on people’s cars from the bad roads, it is a problem for the Town plows, since Petersburgh plows those roads for the County. He said we need to make our case to County authorities to get some resources allocated to fixing these roads. Supervisor Krahforst said he would ask for a meeting with the County Executive to discuss this and other matters, such as the county-owned building in the Millyard which has still not been taken down.
Peter Schaaphok also said the upcoming year will be Petersburgh’s 225th Anniversary, and he hopes to get a committee together to plan celebratory events. All who are interested in getting involved are asked to attend a meeting on December 7 at 7:30 pm at the Town Hall.[/private]