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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-11-07 f GROTON TOWN BOARD PUBLIC HEARINGS Monday , 7 November 1994 Bird Meraber3 ('absent) Others Present Teresa Robinson , Supervisor George L. Totman , County Legislator Colleen D . Pierson , Clerk Karl Heck ( HUD) , Tompkins Co. Planning Board Donald Cummings Jack Fitzgerald , Town Attorney Carl Haynes George R. Senter, Sr . , Code Enforcement Officer George VanBenschoten Public in Attendance (see attached list) I Lewis Sovoeool I The Public Hearing was opened at 8 : 10 p.m. by Teresa Robinson, Town Supervisor. T. Robinson: Do you want to read the announcement? C. Pierson : Okay. Legal Notice - Town of Groton. Arotice of Hearing Upon Preliminary Budget. Notice is hereby given that the Preliminary Budget of the Town of Groton for the fiscal year beginning January 1 , 1995 , has been completed and. filed in the Office of the Town Clerk at Groton where it is - ' - available for inspection by any interested persons at all reasonable hours . Further notice is hereby gWen that the Town Board of the Town of Groton. will meet and review said Preliminary Budget and hold a public hearing thereon at the Town Hall, 101 Conger Boulevard, Groton, New York, at 8:00 P>M> on. the 7th day of November, 1994, and that at such hearing any person may be heard for or against any item therein contained. All interested citizens will have the opportunity to give written and oral. comment. Senior citizens are encouraged to attend and comment. Handicapped persons needing assistance or aids should contact the government before the meeting by calling 898=5035 , Pursuant to Section .113 of the Town Law, the proposed salaries of the following Town Offwers are as .follows: Supervisor $ 8,500.00 Town Clerk & Tax Collector $230440, 00 Highway Superintendent $37, 148400 Town Justice $ 5,510.00 Town Justice $ 54244. 00 i Councilman (4) Combined $ 50912, 00 FLrther notice is hereby given, Pursuant to Section. .184 of the Torun Law, that a Fire Protection and Ambulance Service hearing will be held on Monday , November 7, 19941 at 8:30 P. M. at the Town Hail on Conger Boulevard. The proposed contracts with the Fire Company in the Groton. Are Protection District are hereby specified as follows: Groton FYre Department $60, 000400 Ambulance Service $520000, 00 By order of the Groton Town Board. Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk. Groton Town Board Public Hearings November 7, 1994 ST. Robinson : We have a bulletin board out there and we put this sheet here on it. The preliminary budget is the one that was accepted by the Board and put it out there . We have made recommended changes in the budget . These are the decreases we have . General A (Townwide) . Town Board , A1010. 4, $ 1 , 500 , The Engineer, A1440 . 4 , is $ 1 , 500. Elections, AI. 450 . 4 is $ 1 , 870. Buildings, A1620 . 2 is $2 .000. Central Garage, A1640 . 4 for $20 .000 . Transfer to Capital Reserve , A9950 . 9 is $ 10 * 0004 This is a total of $36. 870. This is the General A. In General B which is part of the town , the decrease is Refuse & Garbage , B8160 . 4 . And this is for $2 , 400. And the Highway (Townwide) we have a Contingency decrease of $3 , 500. Machinery , DA5130 . 2 is $60, 000 , and State Retirement, DA9010 . 8 is $2 , 000, and Tl-ansfer to Capital Reserve , DA9950. 9 , is $ 10,000, That's a total of $75, 500, And then the Highway (Part-town) Is a � decrease in General Repairs, DB5110. 4 of $5 , 000 . State Retirement DB9010 . 8 is $ 1 , 000 for a total of $6 , 000 . And an Increase in State Revenue Sharing, DB3001 , of $2 , 200 , The total decrease in appropriations is $ 120, 770. The total increase in revenues Is $2 . 200 . A look at the changes we made in that preliminary budget - - if you look across here , you ' ll see that we ' re asking for $356 , 372 for the General Townwide Appropriations. We ' re estimating that $ 80 , 850 for revenue . The unexpended balance is $ 185 ,000, And the taxes to be raised would be $90 , 522 . In the part town , the appropriations are $ 118, 808 , with $5. 700 estimated revenue and $30, 000 is the unexpended balance, and $83 , .108 is the amount to be raised in taxes , in the highway, town wide , Is $426, 750, and the revenue is $ 86 * 000 , Unexpended balance is $ 140 , 000, and the money to be raised is $200 , 750. The highway , part town , Is $218, 100, And the estimated revenue is $74, 700 . The unexpended balance is $ 15 . 000 , and the amount to be raised by taxes is $ 128 . 400. Now , adding these up , and these are not considering the fire - and light on here, because if you live in that area you pay that tax, if you don't live there , you don ' t pay the tax. If you live in the Peru Lighting District you pay the tax. If not, you don' t. If you ' re In the Groton Fire Protection District, you pay the tax , if you ' re in McLean Fire District , you pay the tax. So the bottom four depend on where you live . You might pay two of them : you might pay one of them . It depends. And for the total that we're asking to be raised , not considering these special districts , is $502 , 780 . The appropriations have been reduced from the preliminary budget by $ 120 . 770 , and the revenues increased by $2 , 200 . There 's an 8 . 3% decrease in the operating budget (appropriations) from 1. 994 , And the total taxes for this budget are , for 1995, $502 , 780, an increase of 3 . 58% . Over the past three years, the taxes have decreased 19 . 73%. Are there any questions? B. Leaver: I do not understand the decreases . What you spent on the buildings last year you're not spending this year? T. Robinson: Which line in particular do you want? B. Leaver: (Partially unintelligible) . What you ' re putting aside for equipment. Was that done last year and decreased this year? Do you have anything by line for what we talked about here? What about the machinery? T. Robinson then goes to Mr. Leaver and shows him the items he's referring to on the budget and they discuss these items. There is nothing that can be recorded by the Recording Secretary as nothing is audible (even after the Recording Secretary and Town Clerk have made requests that everyone speak loudly and clearly to make sure everything is recorded) . J. Fitch (Recording Secretary): Teresa, I never heard the conversation , so it was lost. People have to speak up or I can't hear what they're saying . T. Robinson : He said he didn' t have that paper and he wanted a comparison with last year's on the equipment. J. Fitch: Thank you . More discussion is then held amongst the public, with nothing audible for recording. T. Robinson : If there is a line item you are questioning, let me know. B. Leaver: You deleted that $60, 000, right? 2 I Groton Town BoArd Public Hearinge November 7, 1994 T. Robinson : Right. L. Cornelius : It's not there , so we don't have it. C . Pierson: You can' t hear a thing up here. t I Lady: We can't hear It either, so we' re all in the same boat. i B. Bernhardt: We'd like to welcome you to the meetings we 've had every month for the last few months . Man : You can' t hear anything. ° C. Pierson : We have to have the minutes of a Public Hearing. and we can't hear. J. Fitch: If each person who spoke would stand up and speak loudly, then I could hear and get it all down . Man : I don't have a question, but I have a comment. J. Fitch: May I have your name , please . i I Man : William Holmes. i J. Fitch: Thank you . W. Hohnes : I think it's pretty obvious here that people haven 't had an opportunity to review this budget in this hearing and it's not going to be very productive for anyone . People should have an opportunity to look this material over, whether or not the rules were met . . . . . lhls Is my first time -- I 'm not even here for the budget this evening. But it does concern me that there's not a lot of productive activity and everybody might be better served if this is adjourned at this time . And if the people are truly interested in finding out about this information, take the time to do so , and then reconvene this hearing so the people can get something done rather than everybody mumbling about not having the facts and figures . T. Robinson: I agree . B. Leaver: 1 'd just like to ask one more question . Corny, you probably handle this equipment. Do you know why they're taking that out? You don't need anything? Is there a reason why? L. Cornelius: The reason why is it decreases the tax rate . It's not that 1 didn't need it. B. Leaver: Apparently you don ' t need it? L. Cornelius: I 'd like to have something if something happens, you know. As time goes on . I can' t buy anything if I don't have anything at all . T. Robinson : I think that Bill 's suggestion was good , and I think we will adjourn this meeting until Wednesday at 7 : 30. Man (white hair) : Are you suggesting you want to adjourn the whole meeting , or just the budget part? T. Robinson: Just the public hearing for the budget. Teresa talks with someone who reminds her that Wednesday is court night and this does not end until 8:30 or so in the evening. 3 I Groton Town Board Public Hearings November 7, 1994 T. Robinson : Is there anyone here who has questions or wants to contribute to this meeting that will not. be able to come at a later date? (There is no response . ) Then I make a suggestion that we have a meeting at 8 : 30 . . . . J. Fitzgerald: Please note In the minutes that nobody had any questions . My suggestion would be that you adjourn until Monday which covers the five- day period . I don ' t know what information is missing . L. Sovocool: What information is missing? Are we talking about this page here . or what? C. Haynes : Go to page 5 , first revenue page -- where the staple is -- It's hard to see that it's page 5 . Proposed budget - real property taxes. - it ' s left blank . in the preliminary you know It 's going to change, so you don ' t know really what to put in there. That's what he's talking about -- the revenue. T. Robinson : Then we'll have it on Monday at 7 : 30 . L. Sovoeool: I make a motion that we adjourn this budget hearing until Monday at 7 : 30 , G. VanBenschoten : i ' ll second it. T. Robinson : All In favor? (All indicated they were in favor. ) i The public hearing for the budget was then adjourned at 8:36 pin. Teresa Robinson then commenced the public hearing for the proposed contracts with the Fire Protection and Ambulance Service, turning the meeting over to Lee Shurtleff, Fire Chief. L. Shurtleff: The fire department is asking for two Items : an increase to the Town Fire Contract of � $2 , 000, and an increase to the Ambulance Contract of $ 1 , 000 , The amount reflected in the fire increase amounts to a little less than a penny per thousand , I believe . And $ 1 , 000 for the ambulance. I 'm not sure how that reflects back, but it's a 2% increase over our ambulance , budget of last year. Overall , our fire department budget for 1995 looks to be an increase of $5500. for a total of $220 , 000 , We have done quite a bit of work with the Village of Groton this year, and we have re- done our bookkeeping over there to the degree that they are going to be on the type of arrangement as the Town government so they contract for a total sum and all expenses for the fire and ambulance are reflected in our budget . Before, part of It was reflected In the Village budget and part of it was reflected in the fire department budget. What we 've done is work very hard to make sure that the amount per thousand is almost the same between the Village and the Town, and we've come very close to doing that. A lot of our expenditures are going into a number of different Items related to the ambulance this year, increased training costs five years ago were picked up by the State of New York and no longer are , particularly for advanced life support. Also , a number of items we 're having to budget for now -- radio maintenance and maintenance on our defibrillators and so on , which were picked up previously by the County, were dropped last year. We' re hopeful they will be back in the budget, but considering their situation down there - - right now , they are tentatively in there , but there is a move to possible take that out. Our call volume , just for your information , is ' up this year. We 've already surpassed by November 1st the number of calls we did last year. We 'll be up 15% by year's end . We are having greater difficulty in providing our services , although we're staying on top of it pretty well . But it does get much more difficult for us throughout the year to provide particularly the advanced life support in the ambulance . We 're looking at a number of different programs In the department to increase our daytime help . We 've also established a number of programs to train our own emergency medical technicians in Groton . We 've done this over the past four years through a pilot program , and then with some other programs - - we're going to be teaching a daytime course to appeal to those people that are working in the community. And for the first time ever, we ' re going to be teaching an advanced emergency medical technician course in Groton. For most of these expenditures, we 're having to raise the funds for because the State government does not provide it as they used to , it's increasingly difficult, but we 've come a long way and we're doing our best to tighten our belts , 4 i I Groton Town .Board Public Hearings November 7, 1994 � . - I I T. Robinson : Any questions? (There was no response . ) Then I close the hearing. i The hearing was closed at 8*40. 1, Joan E. Fitch, do hereby certify that in the matter of a public hearing held by the Town Board of the Town of Groton, County of Tompkins, State of New York regarding the Preliminary Budget of the Town of Groton for the fiscal year beginning January 1 , 1995, and the public i hearing for proposed contracts with the Fire Company in the Groton Fire Protection District pertatning to FYre Protection and Ambulance Service, that the foregoing is a true and accurate transcription of said public hearings, with the possible exception of some inaudible portions of the budget hearing, as so noted_ l � - Joan E Fitch 5 � _ •, / •.fie � `� � - LL . I ! r oof f YLw LDr 0. tLr t 2 6 Cam` °" '� - �'✓'` , � ,^✓' � I� r ��l �1�? LeYOOO bl� Gt�J�I�L / ((9rd ?' 0,007 /'u� j e f /) h CIL rc " 1 c,c1 , /' a Td 3A) A VA, kd oL D S'frgGC R %D ; rU tu ) k, 71f /lr / ,,,V„G Ao/ 01,06 S`r"�t GCS efpAil , vex, i � 19#4*7 o rd S -tn e W4 Gcuivx. „ j