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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-08-14TB 8-14-14 D R A F T Page 1 of 5 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING August 14, 2014 Present: Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner, Cl Gregory Sloan, Cl Joseph Solomon, Cl Jason Leifer, Cl Linda Lavine Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Other Town Staff: Dave Sprout, Code Enforcement Officer Supv Sumner called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Budget modifications are requested for: The sum of $2,015.90 from fund balance in the ambulance district to the ambulance contract line. The ambulance company had to hire some paid workers on a weekend when it became clear that the town did not have workers comp coverage for volunteer drivers. It was straightened out the following Monday and the town agreed to reimburse them for the expense of the people they hired. The Recreation Department has identified the need for a trailer to store and transport soccer and other equipment. They are requesting $2500 from the fireworks budget because there was no lake festival or fireworks this year. They also need $250 from that budget line for software maintenance expense not anticipated and budgeted for. The Highway Department has requested $1756 from their traffic control line to help cover the cost of four new computers. The Court needs a budget mod in the amount of $9,922.50 for court security. This simply moves the funds from the line used when the guards were contractors to the line used for them as employees. Supv Sumner said there is another requested budget mod for the Highway Department. The Highway Superintendent has pointed out that there is no budget line for maintenance of the dam. She said she thinks that last year the former Superintendent rolled together some lines for ease of paperwork. She understood that it is simpler when you don’t know at the beginning of season what expenses there would be for a variety of categories and it is easier to put it into some broad category and use it where you need it. She said she hopes that isn’t the case this year. Her guess is that the money that was intended for dam maintenance was included in some other budget line and she hasn’t had a chance to find out where that might be. In the meantime, they have asked for a budget modification from fund balance to dam maintenance. With the board’s agreement, she will table this so she can find the money in some other line item. The amount is $16,000 and she said it isn’t a good idea to appropriate that from the A fund. RESOLUTION #128 (2014) – TABLE BUDGET MOD REQUEST Supv Sumner offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: TB 8-14-14 D R A F T Page 2 of 5 RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby tables the Highway Superintendent’s request for a $16,000 budget modification from fund balance to dam maintenance until the Supervisor has had an opportunity to review the budget. 2nd Cl Leifer Roll Call Vote Cl Sloan Yes Cl Solomon Yes Supv Sumner Yes Cl Leifer Yes Cl Lavine Yes RESOLUTION #129 (2014) – APPROVE BUDGET MODIFICATIONS Supv Sumner offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the following budget modifications: From Acct To Acct Amount A3310.4 Traffic Control A5010.2 Equipment 1,756.00 A7330.4 Community Recreation A7020.405 Software Annual Upkeep 250.00 A7989.405 Fireworks A7020.201 Rec Admin Equipment 2,500.00 SM599 Fund Balance SM4540.401 Annual Contract 2,015.90 A1110.410 Court Security A1110.105 Court Security 9,922.50 2nd Cl Solomon Roll Call Vote Cl Sloan Yes Cl Solomon Yes Supv Sumner Yes Cl Leifer Yes Cl Lavine Yes RESOLUTION #130 (2014) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #8 Supv Sumner offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #8, as audited, general vouchers #564 through 666 ($581,346.42); CD voucher #255 ($150.00); and TA vouchers #14 through #19 ($14,831.75); totaling $596,328.17. 2nd Cl Sloan Roll Call Vote Cl Sloan Yes Cl Solomon Yes Supv Sumner Yes Cl Leifer Yes Cl Lavine Abstain Building permit fee schedule Supv Sumner reminded the board that this had been discussed many times over a period of many months last year. The fee schedule hasn’t been updated in years and it is becoming clear that the cost of the code enforcers administering the permits is considerably higher than what is currently charged for the permit. Two scenarios have been looked at: One TB 8-14-14 D R A F T Page 3 of 5 based on the cost of the project and one based on square footage of project. They are t rying to determine the amount of time required to administer permit start to finish, and have also revisited the comments from the two times a proposal was introduced last year. They have concluded that the square footage method is a more effective way of gauging how muc h time the code officers and administration spend administering the permit. Staff have analyzed the 2013 permits and prepared a comparison showing the current fee schedule, a square footage schedule, and a cost schedule. That comparison was distribute d to board members. Supv Sumner noted that we do not want to increase costs so drastically that it presents a hardship for people who are accustomed to lower rates. Overall, going with a fee scheduled based on square footage, the revenue would have been about $4,900 more. The board discussed the proposed fee schedule. Cl Sloan and Cl Lavine do not believe the fees for shed permits should increase from $25 to $60. That fee increases by a greater percentage than the other fees. They will not vote to adopt the fee schedule if this is not reduced. Cl Leifer is not resistant to this change. Cl Sloan is willing to shift the burden of the cost increases around and keep it at the same revenue. Supv Sumner said the fees must represent the cost of providing the service. She would like to be able to introduce the fee schedule next week. D Sprout pointed out that the suggested fees are not out of line with surrounding municipalities. Budget schedule Supv Sumner shared the message she sent to department heads last week. She reported that the town’s total taxable assessment is up 2%. She hasn’t calculated the tax levy cap yet, but is optimistic that we can stay under that cap without struggling. The bad news is that we will be trying to do it without using any fund balance. The A fund will have a $500,000 gap to fill. Staff has been asked to be cautious about increasing expenses in that fund and to think creatively about increasing revenue. Department head budget requests are due to the Supervisor by September 5. The increase in health insurance expenses is less than it has been in the past. Estimates for retirement are in and Supv Sumner and the bookkeeper will be looking at that next week. They will also have to think about how much engineering we expect to need in the budget this year, and other things like that. The Finance Committee and anyone else interested can have a meeting after September 5 to discuss what is going into the budget and what goals we are trying to meet. Supv Sumner would like board members to be involved in the budget process early on, perhaps meeting with department heads as they prepare their budget requests. The week of September 15 the Supervisor will meet with department heads about their budget requests. After that she will put the whole budget together and present it to the Town Clerk by September 27. The board will hold a special meeting on Thursday, October 2, at 6:00 p.m. for the Clerk to present the tentative budget to the board and discuss it. A budget workshop was scheduled for October 23, if necessary. The last date to hold a public hearing on the budget is Thursday, November 6. Highway Audit Supv Sumner said the Highway Department was audited by the Comptroller’s Office and on July 30 she mailed a response to their report. Their intent seemed to be to see if practices and highway department budgets were adequate to maintain good quality roads. She said in their report they didn’t have a nice thing to say about us, and it was so badly written TB 8-14-14 D R A F T Page 4 of 5 that it was really hard to respond to. It was vague and unsubstantiated. The Comptroller’s Office recommends an adopted written road management program. Supv Sumner said she pointed out that the Town Board is not permitted to direct the Highway Superintendent. A written plan and more money would probably be good ideas, but in the meantime we are doing a pretty good job with the plan and the money we have. They quoted the current budget as $950,000 when in fact it is 1.5 million. The state estimates tha t 2.4 million needs to be spent to bring town roads to a state of being free of defects. It was pointed out that this isn’t possible with the tax levy cap mandate. She asked the board to review the report and her response to the Comptroller’s Office. Water/Sewer Consolidation Supv Sumner said an RFP for a consultant for the water/sewer consolidation project will be released tomorrow. Cl Sloan said Joanne Cipolla Dennis has requested that the board consider a resolution condemning NYSEG’s plans to add a natural gas pipeline along West Dryden Road. She is concerned that NYSEG will require a 100’ easement that it will be clear cut. She estimates she has 2,000 trees within 100’ of West Dryden Road in her 800’ of frontage. Cl Sloan has spoken with Mr. Pass at NYSEG who gave him a different version of the story. The easement really will require that work be done in the shoulder of the road and they will not disturb people’s lawns, shrubbery, trees or landscaping. The easement is on the south side of the road and the Cipolla Dennis residence is on the north side, so they are not affected as individuals. She is concerned that this eases the use of fossil fuels for everyone and that the natural gas could have been fracked. So this now a more general issue. Cl Sloan there are 100 homes that will get gas hookups and they were probably using propane anyway. He doesn’t think that adding this gas line will change anything in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. He isn’t sure this is something the town wants to weigh into. Supv Sumner said he described very well and added that J Cipolla Dennis continues to describe the project as a high pressure pipeline when it is a low pressure gas main. G Sloan said NYSEG describes it as a medium pressure distribution gas main. It is 7 miles in length and runs through Dryden and Lansing. NYSEG will have to get an easement from 77 landowners. Supv Sumner said she is frustrated by this and alarmed by the misinformation that is being distributed. Cl Sloan said the town should maintain an honest forum for good information. NYSEG is hosting a meeting August 26 at the Freeville Fire Station from 4 to 8 p.m. Supv Sumner said there is a meeting about German Cross Road on Sunday afternoon at the Bethel Grove Community Center at 3:00 p.m. Don Barber, Caroline Town Supervisor, will talk about roads and the legal structure of road right of ways. She said it would be good if some board members could attend. Supv Sumner suggested there may be an executive session after next week’s meeting so that Atty Perkins can explain the legal aspects of the German Cross Road situation. The town was previously involved in an eight-year lawsuit on this very issue. Cl Lavine would like copies of the decision in that case. Supv Sumner explained that roads by use don’t have clear boundaries as opposed to roads that are built by a developer and deeded to the town. Short of surveying the entire road, there is no way of clearly establishing a boundary on a road by use. She also pointed out that the standards for roads have changed as speeds have increased and equipment has gotten wider. She noted that the 284 agreement for German Cross Road was TB 8-14-14 D R A F T Page 5 of 5 for 20’ of paving. Snowplows with blades are 14’ wide, so it needs a 14’ lane and we are talking about paving a 20’ road for two lanes. There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk