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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-06TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 1 of 11 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING BUDGET HEARINGS November 6, 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: Rick Young, Highway Superintendent Jennifer Case, Bookkeeper Jennifer Jones, Director of Recreation Jane Nicolson, Director of Planning Jules Ravo, Town Justice Rick Case, Deputy DPW Supv Sumner called the meeting to order at 6:38 p.m. and board members and audience participated in the pledge of allegiance. PUBLIC HEARING 2015 GENERAL AND SPECIAL DISTRICT BUDGETS FIRE AND AMBULANCE CONTRACTS Supv Sumner opened the public hearings on the general and special districts budgets, fire contracts, and ambulance contracts at 6:40 p.m. She said she had made handouts for the audience to help explain some of the things the board would be talking about tonight. In doing so, she was pleased to find that over the past five years appropriations have been declining steadily. Non-tax revenue has been increasing and use of fund balance has been declining over the past five years. So the town is achieving a goal of reducing expenditures, increasing non- tax revenue and decreasing reliance on fund balance. Nearly half of the town’s revenue is from sales tax, 1/3 from property tax and the rest from state aid, fees, and fines and so forth. It is important to remember when the tax rate is discussed tonight, that it is not the largest share of our revenue. There is a pie chart that shows expenditures by department. The lion’s share is the highway department/DPW, an area which we all recognize as important to the town. Supv Sumner said putting the budget together has not been easy because we are always trying to do the things that we can to invest in the town and keep the tax rate affordable for residents. There were no comments or questions from the board. Because of the message t hat went out in which Supv Sumner mentioned specifically the cuts made to youth services, community grant program, and the highway department, she knows that some audience members are here to address those cuts. Jennifer Jones, Recreation Director, has submitted a request to the board to restore most of the funding for youth services and community grant program. Public Comment Rick Young, Highway/DPW Superintendent, read the attached statement. Laura Cavanaugh, 312 Dryden Harford Road, said she is a safety officer for Dryden Central School District and has been employed there for nine years. She is pleased with the TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 2 of 11 condition of the roads this last year. She has noticed a considerable difference in the surface of the roads during the last winter season and was grateful that they remained bare during and after the heaviest snowfalls. Given the numerous responsibilities of transporting children on a daily basis, it gives her peace of mind knowing she could count on safe driving conditions and bare roads. She hopes for the same kind of attention to the roadways this coming winter. Anything less would be unsafe for the children as well as the general motoring public. A large number of bus drivers that have expressed their gratitude and share her feelings on this matter. She hopes the board will take this into consideration during the next budget season. Ron Senecal, Deputy Highway Superintendent, said tonight he is representing Pat Brennan and the Village of Freeville board. Pat Brennan runs the DPW in Freeville and sent a letter to the Highway Department recently. He read that letter for the board (attached). Samuel Park said he is a senior at Dryden High School and has attended Dave Hall’s youth programs since 8th grade. He knows from personal experience in the programs and seeing the other youth opportunities that our programs are exemplary compared to other towns he has been to in New York. He believes that these opportunities are keeping the crime rates lower. He knows fellow students and high school dropouts who went toward a more criminal path. He believes if they had attended these programs, they probably would have done better things with their time, made better choices, and developed better character. Many other students like himself have become better citizens for the Town of Dryden by going through Dave Hall’s programs. Valerie Horn said she is deaf and a senior at Dryden High School. She came here to defend the youth employment program. She got a summer job at the Dryden Community Café. She met new people and it helped her learn how to be more comfortable talking to them and trying to understand them. She gained experience from working with other people. The program taught her to be a role model in the community, what it’s like to have a job and to be a responsible citizen. Linda Fenner, speaking for the Etna Fire Department, asked the board to reconsider the amount published for the department at $136,000. The Department had asked for $166,500. They have ongoing expenses and repairs for the training tower. She understands there is only so much money, and she won’t say another dept doesn’t need its budget. The department is run by volunteers and they go to fires at night and still have to go to their day job. Good people donate their time for the safety of the public. They need to have the tower to train upcoming fire fighters. They haven’t had an increase in their budget at all. It takes 400 hours to become an EMT and they have to recertify every three years. That is a large commitment. Firefighters also need many hours of training. They have OSHA demands to deal with and other things the board doesn’t take into consideration . She urged the board to reconsider their budget and invited them to visit, and urged community members to get involved with the departments. Christie French spoke in support of Dryden youth programs. She said what a difference this program makes. No one knows until the kids come home with their excitement. They have learned about edible things in the forest and how to track animals. In these programs and with Dave Hall, her children have found a place that feels like home and community and builds a sense of community with the children. She read part of a note written by one of her children: “Dave Hall’s group should not be cancelled because it gets people outside and it teaches them survival skills. If Dave Hall’s group is cancelled, kids would not have these skills. I would not know how to track animals and edible plants in the wild. Also I would be very sad for many days if it was cancelled. Dave himself is a great man. He is awesome. I hope it’s not cancelled. He is my favorite teacher ever.” TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 3 of 11 A lot of the activities are things that her children only ever did with their grandfather and they are unable to do that with him now. They only get it from Dave. A strong male figure is vital for growing children. There are other programs her children have taken advantage of that she may not have been able to offer them otherwise. Budget cuts are sometimes necessary, but she urges the board to please not cut the youth services. It affects the most vulnerable citizens and children from low income families. That’s where it hurts the most. Ryleigh Scales, said these programs have provided her and many others with many skills not learned in school, such as how to make a fire with sticks or build a shelter if you get lost in the woods. You also learn things like how to manage your time. She has learned leadership and teamwork skills. In nature arts she learned how to turn something plain and simple like a piece of string into a piece of art to be proud of. She looks forward to expanding these skills during youth summer employment and other youth programs. She knows decisions are hard and budget cuts need to be made somewhere, but please don’t cut the Dave Hall programs. Nikki Nease, manager of the OURS program and the youth employment program, read from the following statement: Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the behalf of Rural Youth Services and our youth development programs in Dryden. Actually reading what I wish to express, I believe will save time, and I know that everyone’s time here is very important. My name is Nikki and as an employee of the Cornell Cooperative Extension, I manage both the Dryden OURS and Dryden Youth Employment Programs. The Dryden OURS program serves three Mobile Home Communities in Dryden. I would like to illustrate just a couple of the many indispensable aspects of our programs. I hope to convey the collective and positive impact that the OURS Program has on dozens of the Dryden families that we serve. And I will throw some numbers at you to help illustrate how the town’s investment in youth development programs really helps the community save money in the long run. Only 2 people, out of the 44 current OURS members, participate in any other extracurricular activity. So for the vast majority of our families, the OURS Program is the one opportunity for them to engage in structured, positive youth development outside of the school day. That our programs are free of charge, and that we provide transportation, is the essential component that allows families to commit to our programs each week, each semester, winter, and summer, year after year. Because so many of our families continue to experience the sense of belonging with OURS for several years, we have finally created a pathway for youth to come of age throughout the course of their participation. With immeasurable thanks to the Town of Dryden for the generous funding in the past, our team of dedicated, Cornell-student, volunteer mentors have met weekly every semester to assess our experiences with the OURS youth; to help them identify their individual strengths and the ways we can build them up, and to evaluate the very specific needs of our participants through surveys and discussions with families, and through the one on one, long term relationships that are built, often over the course of several years of alliance between the mentor-mentee pairs in our program. Each semester, throughout the past four years, we have gained stupendous ground by altering program structure in order to retain long-term participants, and to create programming that will be the most effective at inspiring them to love learning, to continue their education, to serve their community, and to improve their TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 4 of 11 quality of living by providing them opportunities to experience genuine success, and to bond with unconditionally caring role models. Last year we were granted the funding for an additional OURS program day. The proposed structure for this fourth program was born out of the fact that so many of our eldest participants seemed to lack the fundamental literacy skills that are necessary for young adults to thrive both in school and the work-force. Studies suggest that low-performing readers are most at-risk for dropping out of high-school. We now have set the stage for trained mentors to help our youngest youth build those fundamen tal literacy skills that will lead to higher self esteem, and more success in school. While all of our Rural Youth Services programs aim to build a myriad of important life skills; encouraging this generation to stay in school and value their education is of the utmost importance to OURS. I have spoken mostly on behalf of the OURS Program that serves families in our Mobile Home Communities, so I should certainly take time to highlight the Dryden Youth Employment Program: In addition to linking employable young people to a first-time job experience and networking them to local job-opportunities in the future by getting their “foot in the door”, so to speak, the Dryden Youth Employment program also seeks to raise self-esteem and self-confidence by helping young people identify their own strengths and communicate them in written form to potential employers, volunteer organizations, scholarship programs, and vocational schools and colleges. We are currently developing a multiple day job-skills training that will provide a twist on resume building; Participants from Dryden high school and Ithaca high school will be invited to collaboratively learn how to identify their leadership strengths and challenges using specific tools and through activities that will help them become more self aware. Here are some quick facts regarding the actual costs of dropping out of high school: The high school dropout problem is a crisis for the United States, in part because it impacts not only individuals and their education, but also because the economic and social costs are so dramatic. Domestically, the nation and its communities suffer from a lack of productive workers and higher costs associated with incarceration, health care, and other social services. High school dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, earn lower wages, have higher rates of public assistance, are more likely to be single parents, and have children at a younger age. The dropout rate for students with emotional/behavioral disabilities is approximately twice that of general education students. High school students from lower-income families (the lowest 20 percent) were found to be up to six times more likely to drop out than students from higher income families – and u;timately, about one half of all dropouts never receive a GED. (as I mentioned before) Research has confirmed that the lowest-performing readers are most at risk of dropping out of high school: Estimates indicate that approximately 30 percent of federal inmates, 40 percent of state prison inmates, and 50 percent of persons on death row are high school non-completers. Moreover, non-completers are 3.5 times more likely than high school completers to be imprisoned at some point during their lifetime. The latest studies show a 23% dropout rate in the U.S., and a 4% dropout rate in New York State. If the male graduation rate was increased by only five percent, the U.S. could save $7.7 billion a year through reducing crime related costs TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 5 of 11 and increasing earnings. A single 18-year-old dropout earns $260,000 less over a lifetime and contributes $60,000 less in federal and state income taxes. Almost 1.3 million students didn’t graduate from US high schools in 2004, costing more than $325 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes. The Alliance for Excellent Education has estimated that the more than 12 millions students who will drop out over the next decade will cost the nation $3 trillion dollars. “...Aside from their child-care and supervision value, ASPs provide youth development and skill-building activities that have been shown to reduce delinquent behavior and decrease high school drop out rates. Because recent studies suggest that arrests for juvenile crime peak between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on school days the interest in the delinquency prevention potential of ASPs has piqued. The results of studies that examine the effects of participation in ASPs imply that participation reduces delinquent behavior for middle -school aged youth. A reduction in delinquent behavior was not necessarily achieved by decreasing time spent unsupervised or by increasing involvement in constructive activi ties, but by increasing intentions not to use drugs and through positive peer associations. Effects on these outcomes were strongest in programs that incorporated a high emphasis on social skills and character development.” (as do our programs). Because of status variables and other alterable variables such as motivation, confidence and academic performance, participants are targeted to ensure that we are serving those who have the highest needs for the support that our programs provide. It is our greatest hope that we can continue to provide opportunities for the young people in Dryden, and that we can continue to progress, and to provide better and better programming, and for that, we will need all the support we can get. Thank you so much for the support you have provided us so far! Bruno Schickel, Schutt Road, said he has been following the budget and encouraging the town board to cut the budget for a long time. It is important to understand that since 2008 the Town of Dryden has been running an operational deficit every year. Because they don’t bring enough revenue in, expenses exceed income and the savings has been dwindling. In 2008 they overspent by $215,000, in $2009 by $239,000, in 2010 it was 1.3 million, in 2011 it was 1.3 million, in 2012 it was $972,000 and in 2013 it was $550,000. The t ruth is the board has made progress in reducing red ink, but the town’s savings has gone from 8.4 million in 2008 to 3.7 million at the end of last year. He doesn’t kn ow how much will be overspent in the current year, but he expects about a half million dollars. For the budget as proposed, if town did not rely on savings to balance it, the tax rate would have to increase 50%. That’s how serious the problem is. This is a tough position, but you still have this huge structural operational deficit that has to be closed. You probably recognize that you can’t close it with a 50% increase. Dryden’s total tax, with school taxes, is 2nd behind Groton with the highest rate in the County. It is a cumulative burden. We need to realize that there should be no sacred cows. These programs are fantastic. A couple of his daughters were in primitive pursuits. You need to try to figure it out, but the bottom line is you have got to cut the budget. The Highway Department doesn’t want to cut, but the truth is that in 2008 the Highway Department was 45.8% of the budget; in 2013 it was 51.1% of the budget. It has gotten up to almost 56% of the budget in 2012 . The Highway Department in the last couple of years has taken some significant cuts. He doesn’t envy the board’s position. It’s a difficult one. But the bottom line is if you do not solve this structural deficit problem, you will be faced with severely cutting or severely raising taxes. It’s a sobering reality. TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 6 of 11 Chuck Haskins said he wanted to bring to everyone’s attention an issue of integrity to the public that has been breached. It was brought to his attention that some of the minutes of the meetings have vanished. He is concerned about conversations that took place at budget workshops. Town Clerk Bambi Avery explained that minutes are required when a public body takes action. A budget workshop is not a meeting where a public body takes formal action. That action is generally done as a formal resolution. It isn’t simply a discussion. There are recordings of the budget workshops and they are available to the public for three months. The budget workshops are open to the public. Chuck Haskins said the board really should consider the Highway Superintendent’s budget, and he thinks he is getting an unfair shake. Kathy Gehring addressed the board as a newly appointed member of the Dryden Recreation and Youth Commission, a member of the Tompkins County Youth Services Board, and a parent of middle school and high school children. She provided a memo to the board (attached) and asked the board to reconsider the funding for youth services. Morgan Pursell spoke in support of Dave Hall’s programs at the middle school. This program has a huge impact on the community. It helps kids build self confidence and team building skills. It gets kids to get active outside instead of staying inside on electronics. The small amount of money put into the program has gone a long way. Her family has gone through problems with her father and Dave Hall has been extra supportive for her. She trusts him. His program is super supportive to those who don’t have someone to look out for them. She doesn’t know what it would be for her like without Dave Hall and his programs. These programs are important for her and many students like her and she hopes that the budget cuts don’t happen. Diane Pamel, Library Director at the Southworth Library, spoke in support of the community grants that are being cut. The library has received about $1000 for the past two summers for programs for teens. Those programs connect teens with an adult that has a skill, or it could just be a fun thing. It has been a great benefit to those who participate for less than the cost of a movie. She encouraged the board to see if there is some money available for the grant program. She thanked the town for all that it does for the library. Supv Sumner said the Recreation Director has submitted a request to the board for at least partial funding to be restored to the community grants program. Pete Tyler, is a longstanding member of the fire department as a firefighter/EMT, said he doesn’t envy the board’s position in dealing with a budget. It sounds like a crisis. He came to speak about the DPW and how that affects pretty much everything they do. He commended the Highway/DPW workers and the job that they do. When the weather is bad, w e take for granted the people in the orange trucks regardless of the time of day or whether it is a holiday. We owe it to them to be able to do their job properly. It has long standing effects. Without them the fire trucks and ambulances can’t get on the road for emergency calls. Imagine if we didn’t have the proper services to clear snow and debris. Sometimes we have to prioritize and make difficult decisions. He supports the Highway Department being able to maintain at the very least. Not necessarily increasing the budget, but giving them the tools they need to do their jobs properly. In his 24 years experience in the City of Ithaca, he has learned that when you let things go, and you let things deteriorate, it is very difficult to get it back. There is an expectation in the community that they will be out there with their trucks and do the job. If we start whittling away at service, we’ll never get that back. TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 7 of 11 Beth Peck addressed the board on behalf of the Dryden Community Café and as President of their board of directors. She encouraged the board to restore money to the community grant program. The café exists so that we have a community center in the town. The funds from the town have allowed them to provide programming and music nights. The grant funds allow them to be a community center and not just a café. Jim Gustafson, Baker Hill Road, asked if the pie chart for spending was for the 2014 or 2015 budget and was told it was for 2015. He asked if the money for 2015 equal to, more than, or less than 2014. Cl Leifer said it is $75,000 more than 2014. He encouraged the board to maintain the highway budget at a level that allows the services to meet expected standards. Inflation needs to be taken into account. He thanked the board for their service. Ariana Horstman said she attends the OURS program three times a week and learns so much. They teach them how to respect people and open up their personalities. She has discovered so much about herself that she never knew. She would like to keep the program because she wants younger children to learn more about themselves and the world around them. Ron Szymanski, Freeville, said it is awesome to see people participating in the process. We have a rich community of talent and opportunities, but the reality is you have to live within your means. It doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways of keeping the programs that are in place. We need to think outside the box. The board has to deal with the financial realities, and it means that you can’t do everything and you have to make tough decisions. It doesn’t mean that the programs won’t exist. We need to look for new ways, such as sponsorships. That is possible. It is still about fiscal responsibility and with all the burdens taxpayers have, you have to do what you have to do and that means live within your means. Don Preston, Etna Fire Department, said the fire departments all fight for money. It is expensive to outfit each firefighter with turnout gear and clean that gear. They asked for an extra bit of money to extend services to the public. It costs $13,000 to train one firefighter a year and there is a turnover greater than that. They have asked for money before and have had to beg and borrow from everyone else. They need a little bit more money to make them succeed and make this town better. Cl Lavine asked the people in youth service related areas to comment on the multiplier effect of what they do. How does the town’s contribution get multiplied by the programs bringing in volunteer labor? N Nease said there are about 75 Cornell student volunteers and their estimated hours are valued at about $29,000 in in-kind support. Supv Sumner said that youth services used to be a 50/50 match between the town and state/county funds. When the county reduced their funding, the town was able to make up a lot of that. In 2014 the town budgeted $76,000 for that program, and received from the County $18,000. It’s good that the county can help. The town needs to decide if it is a mandate or a good investment. Another program funded by the community grant program is Neptune’s Junior Fire Academies. Cl Lavine would like to know what the multiplier effect is: Because the program exists, it brings in a certain number of free services from volunteers. It would be helpful to make an argument for preserving funding if that could be put in writing. There was a discussion about the low cost of providing these types of youth services and how it helps keep the participants from becoming part of the juvenile justice system which is much more costly over ($100,000 per child). Kirby Edmonds has done a talk on the cycle of poverty and the criminal justice system and he maps out how poverty creates criminals and that creates poverty and so on. When children are attended to at a young age in groups that TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 8 of 11 cycle can be broken. An audience member said the services here cannot be overlooked, and not funding these programs hits the most vulnerable citizens. Lisa Everidge said she has been a library member for over 20 years and has seen a great improvement in the programs offered for children. There are ways for people to learn other skills and they have worked hard to keep the programs going. W ith respect to Dave Hall’s programs, they are important and necessary for children to learn different skills and experience the world. She has had friends involved in drugs as well as family mem bers who did not receive support they needed as children and young adults. These programs could have made a difference. You need to have skills to survive if there is a giant magnetic surge and all the computers die. The programs are necessary and there may have to be some fundraising. They need the support of community and families. There is a waiting list for Dave’s programs. She would not like to see these programs discontinued. Brianna Harris said she has been in the OURS program for two years. Before she was involved she was always in trouble at home. Her siblings are now in the program. She goes three times a week and is now a mentor in training. She has made a lot of improvement and probably wouldn’t have finished school. She is now in 11th grade and going to BOCES for early childhood intervention. She is here to support the programs. Steve Foote said if the roads and infrastructure are let go, there is a multiplier effect. He said the board should check out the Cornell Local Roads recommendations and look to the Highway Superintendent for direction. You can find the multiplier effect. Ron Beck said he is confused about the highway budget. He had heard there was a large cut. Supv Sumner explained the proposed budget is a tad higher but a lot less than was requested. He said he knows a little about equipment maintenance and infrastructure, and doesn’t see how you can maintain the equipment that’s necessary to keep the highways going if you reduce the budget. He asked what our cost per mile is compared to other similar towns. That would be helpful to know. If we’re out of whack then something is wrong. Infrastructure goes away every year and you have to invest in it. You have to look at it carefully, but manage these expenses. Logan Lancaster said Dryden youth services should not be cut because it helps Dryden’s youth stay on the right track and keep a good sense of responsibility. Because someone in his family has worked at the juvenile jails, he believes there are a lot of people in there who made simple mistakes that could have been prevented at a younger age. These programs would keep them on the right track and occupied. Daniel Lancaster said his son has been with the group for two years and he has had the honor of volunteering with Dave Hall. After 16 years in the Army, he didn’t know there was so much to learn about the outside. He is thankful for the program and knows the importance of a program like this to guide children. Programs like this help keep the numbers down at places like the William George Agency. He can’t say enough good things about Dave Hall’s programs. Please keep the programs open and the numbers down at the jail. Supv Sumner said sometimes while working on the budget she is reminded of the programs like this and Girl Scouts in the 50’s, and laments the decline of volunteers. She’s not sure where the cycle started, but as taxes started to go up people needed a second job and had less time to volunteer. Then governments took over things that volunteers used to do, and then the taxes went up more and people had to work more and volunteer less. It is a sad, endless cycle of not being able to rely on the community for programs and services like that. TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 9 of 11 Linda Fenner asked if she needed to formally give the board a recommendation for a budget change. Supv Sumner said there is a record of her comments. If she wishes to submit something that is fine, otherwise the board will rely on her public comment. There being no further comments or questions, Supv Sumner closed the public hearing at 8:05 p.m. Supv Sumner said she was working on a piece today to explain where we are at in the budget process. The bookkeeper who was working here when she was first elected had put together a history of the tax rate and the levy back to the early 1990’s. In 1993 the town tax rate was $2.62. That is nearly double what our tax rate today is. But that was a good thing at the time and allowed the town to accumulate enough money to build this building without borrowing. We’ve save about $130,000 a year by not paying interest on bond payments for this building. In the late 1990’s the rate was began declining until about 2005 when it reached $1.44 where it is now. It has stayed flat for 9 years. The tax bill for a property assessed at $200,000 would be lower now than in the late 1990s. By using some of the savings not spent on this new building, we were able to keep the rate low through the recession and continue to invest in things we thought the town needed. We realize it’s time to carry on that plan for capital investment. Reserves have been established for DPW and Highway equipment. It’s a good way of keeping appropriations for highway equipment fairly level in the budget while still being able to replace stuff as the schedule requires. A reserve fund for a major recreational facility has been established. Surveys have indicated an interest in a major park and/or an indoor facility. There is also a third reserve for capital projects. The task is to plan how and when to fund the reserves so we know we can invest in the town the way we need to with as few surprises as possible. The Recreation Director has submitted a proposal for partial restoration for youth services and the grant program. At a minimum if town restores $5,000 to youth services they will be able to continue their programs at the same level of services. The community grants program started in 2006 with Steve Stelick for community centers to help address their infrastructure needs. As those were taken care of the program expanded to cover some programming requests from community centers. I t then expanded to programming for other community agencies. Many of the programs that have been funded are fabulous and some may not be able to continue if this funding was not made available. She asked the board to restore a portion of that funding and to work with Jennifer Jones who has spoken to the DRYC about developing some clearer guidelines and goals for this program . The board should consider the agencies that have been funded that would not be able to operate without our funding. Perhaps some of them should have permanent budget lines. Jennifer Jones said with respect to the community grants, many of the agencies are looking forward to applying in February. I f money is completely eliminated that community will be shocked. They are planning on the funding. She explained that at certain times of the year, when the applications come in for review and when the contracts are prepared, are a bit labor intensive. Most of the time spent is by DRYC members reviewing the applications. Cl Lavine would like an estimate of the time it takes to administer the program on J Jones’s part. Supv Sumner said our budget has to be in a format acceptable to the State Comptroller, and there are four categories: Wages & salaries, equipment, materials & services, and employee benefits. About half of our budget is in wages and salaries. About a third is in employee benefits. Health insurance costs are extraordinary. Employees are an incredible asset. There are about 35 full time equivalent employees, with half in Highway/DPW and half in town hall and they all do an extraordinary job. It’s TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 10 of 11 amazing what is accomplished. She said we are pretty penny pinching and are making do with our resources without over taxing. Supv Sumner said she has given board members a document on the Dryden Police services study to be discussed next week. The Mayor would like the Board to comment on the options (there are eleven). There are a couple of site plan reviews coming up that the board will be updated on next week. With respect to the budget, Cl Leifer said we are shooting for a soft landing. In the past there were concerns about special districts when it came to the tax levy cap. In past years there was a resolution about going above the levy cap if we had to for a special district. The 23 different funds in the town are not funded the same way and all need to come under the cap. We need to seriously consider that. He knows about the issue with the breather gear the fire departments need to replace because of new regulations. If we have to raise that amount, we should. The amount to be paid on a $200,000 home for 2014 for fire district was $234.81 and what is proposed now would be $234.15. He doesn’t think going a bit above that would be bad because we need to properly fund the training and equipment. Supv Sumner said we could consider adding a contingency line in the fire district budget. She has been working with the departments on this for a little over three months and is not sure how she would apportion any increase. Cl Leifer – With respect to highway, the 2006 DA and DB funds were 2.3 million, in 2007 it was 2.4 million, in 2008 it was 2.3 million, and this year it was 2.6 million. The proposed is 2.7, but back in 2012 it was about 3.2 million, which is a high in the last 8 years. Overall town spending has gone down in appropriations by 1.1 million since 2012. There have been points made about investing in infrastructure, and he thinks it is entirely reasonable to go right up against that cap number so that we are not pulling as much out of the savings account. One day interest rates will come back and we need to have something in the bank so we can earn the interest income we had in the past. Supv Sumner said the mandated tax cap would be 3.5%, but we aren’t going that high. That would have brought the tax rate to $1.80 and we were not eager to make that big a change all at one time. Where we are overall now is about $190,000 under what the state would allow us to use. There are two reasons for trying to economize. One is to meet the tax levy cap mandate and the other is to try to keep our rate reasonable. We are reluctantly acknowledging that it may begin to rise in a planned way, but not to spike and fall on a regular basis. Cl Leifer said someone had mentioned the local roads program and he forwarded the maintenance manual to the board a few weeks ago. He is hoping that someday the highway department could put that into a power point for the public. It is not cheap and is labor intensive to build a road. The more annual maintenance done a road the less rebuilding you’ll have to do. A year ago we started talking about a road protection law and now with the heav y truck traffic on German Cross Road, there’s a lot more wear and tear on that particular road. It could be $50,000 in wear and tear that wouldn’t happen without that heavy traffic. We need to revisit that program. Otherwise all taxpayers are subsidizing one particular use. Cl Leifer said he thinks we should consider authorization to exceed the tax levy cap. Supv Sumner said we still have very comfortable margins. Next year if we need to exceed the tax levy cap, we need to introduce it in September because it is a local law and requires a public hearing. We don’t need it this year. We still have a little leeway with the items under consideration and it can be sorted out next week. TB 11-6-14 D R A F T Page 11 of 11 There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk