New Tax Collection Software Can’t Be Used
by Alex Brooks
At the Petersburgh Town Board’s April 17 meeting, Town Clerk Deidra Michaels said the Tax Collection software purchased from Williamson Law Book Company is not recognized by Rensselaer County and is therefore not suitable for use by the Town.[private] Everyone seemed to be surprised by this. Questions were raised about why this problem had not been discovered before the software was purchased and put into use.
Michaels said representatives of the company had given verbal assurances that it would be compatible with State and County systems, but she could not locate any written assurances of that kind.
Councilwoman Amy Schaaphok said it looks like “we have spent $7,000 for nothing. I want our money back.”
Town attorney David Gruenberg said he will look into the matter and call the company and see what can be done about this situation.
The Town purchased Building Codes Enforcement software from Williamson last July for $3,700, and Tax Collection Software in January of this year for $3,380. The recently purchased tax collection software is definitely not usable and must be switched over to the software system from BAS which is compatible with the County software. It is not clear yet if the Codes Enforcement software, which has been in use for more than a year, has to be changed over to BAS as well. Gruenberg and Michaels have been talking with people at Williamston Law Book Company and will have a report on how that’s going at the May Board Meeting.
Codes Enforcement Applicants
Town Supervisor Alan Webster announced that the Town has had three applications for the position of Codes Enforcement official. These are Jerry Saari, who applied for the job the last time it was open, and was interviewed at that time, and Tom Berry, and Fran Rogers, who is the Code Enforcement official in Hoosick.
Supervisor Webster and Councilman Smith and Town Clerk Michaels interviewed Berry and Rogers, and reported to the Board what they learned in the interview, but no decision has been made yet. Supervisor Webster said on Tuesday May 2 that the Board expects to hire a new Codes Enforcement officer by the May 15 Town Board meeting if not before.
Supervisor Webster said he and Town Bookkeeper Charles Guntner met with health insurance broker Teresa Scicchitano and she recommended the Town switch from CDPHP to Blue Shield. He said the change would result in annual savings to the Town of about $6,000.
Water District – Water District Superintendent Ben Krahforst said he found and fixed a water leak on April 16 that he had been searching for. His report said Well #2 is producing plenty of water at present, but he is concerned that none of the other wells are able to produce enough water to keep the GAF filter working properly. He feels the Water District needs an adequate backup well in case anything should go wrong with Well #2.
Landfill Study – Webster said he met with someone from DEC at the landfill, who said he had just received the preliminary report about the “site characterization” of the Petersburgh/Berlin landfill. He said they needed to review it for a while before releasing it publicly, but he expected a report on the landfill will be released pretty soon.
Broadband – Webster also said he and Amy Schaaphok met with Stephentown Councilman Gerry Robinson, who has been working very actively to bring broadband to Stephentown. Webster said Robinson gave them a lot of names and numbers of people to contact, and shared some of his knowledge of how the broadband landscape is developing. Webster said he and Schaaphok will follow up and see what they can do to bring better internet service to Petersburgh. [/private]