Hoosick Falls Village Board Adopts 2016-2017 Budget
by Deb Alter
After a public hearing with very few public comments, the 2016-2017 Village Budget was adopted at the Hoosick Falls Village Board Meeting on Tuesday, April 12. It includes a tax levy increase of slightly over 1%, and is under the state tax-cap.
[private]“It’s not a fat budget,” said Mayor David Borge, “but it meets our needs.” Because the winter was so mild, the Village spent less than usual. The combined fund balance is approximately $1,171,000. The total budget for 2016-2017 is $3,406,072. The General Fund budget is $1,712,360, The Water Fund budget is $890,918, and the Sewer Fund is $802,794. Last year’s budget was about $3.3 million.
The budget covers increased costs for health insurance, workman’s comp, and liability insurance. The budget also covers a 2% pay increase for Village employees as well as increased police coverage.
As it was also the yearly Organizational meeting, the recently elected trustees, Robert Downing, Ben Patten and Karen Sprague, were sworn in. The Mayor went over committee assignments, meeting rules, appointments to various departments and boards, clerks, etc. He reviewed the Village procurement policies and announced that The Eastwick Press remains the official newspaper of record for the Village, and the official bank is Key Bank.
Water Updates
The DOH has approved the plans for the full-capacity water filter. The Village is now seeking bids for the full capacity carbon filtration system. This will take a few months, but the completion date is still expected to be October or sooner. CT Male Associates is handling the bid process for the Village. The search for a new water source continues, but the probability is that the full-capacity filters will be online before the new water source is.
Blood tests taken by the DOH have not come back yet, but will soon. Letters will be mailed to individuals with results and a brief explanation. DOH reps will meet one-on-one with anyone who wants to understand their results in more depth.Twenty-four hundred people have signed up for the tests, and about 2,000 have been tested so far.
A DOH representative who was at the meeting said that results from the tests take two to three months to come back because they are so highly specialized. They require very specific equipment, and there are few labs that do the tests. The DOH has been in contact with local doctors and hospitals to keep them apprised of the situation. They are also working on ways to get to people who are homebound and can’t get to the Armory.
The DOH said that they had not sent the raw data from water sample tests to the Village, only the summary results. At the request of many in the audience and the Mayor, they will do so, at which point they will be posted on the Village website.
Tops has reported that fewer people are coming in for water since the filter has gone online, a sign that confidence is being regained.
The Mayor said, “There’s really good news all around. We are not out of the woods yet, but we have turned a corner.”
In Other Business
There is movement on three major commercial properties in the Village: the Patire property on Main St. will soon be JC Tractors, and there are serious prospects interested in both the mannequin factory on Center Street and One Mechanic Street (formerly WCW).
• Mayor Borge complimented Kevin O’Malley for the great job he did putting together a terrific St. Patrick’s Day Parade. O’Malley thanked the other people who worked on the committee: Marie O’Neil, Kate Bradley, Polly Harrington, Emily Bouplon, Olivia Burns, and Bridget O’Neil Hopkins.
• The American House demolition has been completed. The contaminated material has been taken away, and the hole in the ground was filled in.
• A resolution was passed to work with the Town to look into the feasibility of extending municipal water and possibly sewer service south along Route 22. The same resolution was passed the night before at the Hoosick Town Board meeting. Other areas that may be considered for village water include North Hoosick, and the Wilson Hill and Bovie Hill Road areas. The mayor also mentioned that they were going to look into things that could be rolled into the project while the roads are dug up for the water lines.
• Bids for a new contract for refuse and recycling were opened. The Board voted to accept the bid from County Waste for $314,000 for a two-year contract.[/private]