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Home My WebLink About2013-09-09 TOWN OF GROTON -MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING MO N DAY, S E PTEM B E R 9, 2013 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Richard B. Gamel, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Fran Casullo, Attorney for the Town Also present: Jay Franklin, Patrick Jordan, Jennifer Schwade, Kelly Smith, April Scheffler. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the August 13, 2013 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Claim Number 247-277 of the General Fund in the amount of $25,583.03 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Gamel, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 129-143 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $28,880.06 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Monthly Reports: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper was not present but had submitted monthly reports for the Board's review and requested two budget transfers. RESOLUTION #13-055 - 2013 BUDGET TRANSFER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the follow 2013 Budget transfer: General Fund - Town Wide: From: Contingency, Al990.4......................................$200.00 To: Youth Program, Personal Services, A7310.1 .........$200.00 Town Board Minutes Page 2 September 9,2013 Concerning the second budget transfer, Clerk Scheffler asked why $275 was being transferred to Celebrations, Photo Contest, B7550.42. Supervisor Morey said that she must have gone over the amount in that fund for the photo contest. Clerk Scheffler replied that she had not gone over the amount allowed for the photo contest and that the bookkeeper had not transferred the $720.00 grant into the B7550.42 account to cover the expenses. This part of the transfer from contingency was taken out of the subsequent resolution. RESOLUTION #13-056 - 2013 BUDGET TRANSFER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the follow 2013 Budget Transfer: General Fund - Part Town: From: Contingency, B1990.4................................$1,000.00 To: Youth Program, Summer Help, B7310.1 .........$11000.00 Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Was not present but had submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Richard C. Case, Highway Superintendent - Was not present. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Had nothing else to report. Francis Casullo, Attorney for the Town - Had nothing to report. John Norman & A. D. Dawson, Town Justices - Were not present but had submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Councilman Donald Scheffler, Representative to Joint Youth Program - Had nothing to report. Privilege of the Floor: Jennifer Schwade - Wondered how the Board and Highway Superintendent were doing as far as completing a road preservation law. Supervisor Morey said that the Highway Superintendent was still updating the survey of the roads. Ms. Schwade asked if the Highway Superintendent had a timeline for the legislation. Supervisor Morey said that he did not know. Kelly Smith - Was curious about the Ethics Committee, how often they would be meeting, and when they could expect some decision on the moratorium. Town Board Minutes Page 3 September 9,2013 Attorney Casullo - Said that the Ethics Board met a few weeks ago and will meet on an as-needed basis. At this point it's going to be up to the Town Board as to whether they want to resurrect the proposed moratorium and see if anyone has an issue to take to the Ethics Board. Kelly Smith - Okay, so how would the townspeople request that the issue of the moratorium be opened up again? Supervisor Morey - Well, since we're so close to election, and you're running for councilperson, we're going to wait until November to see what happens. Jay Franklin, Tompkins County Assessment - Explained that the State did an audit and found that there were many people who were "double-dipping" on the STAR program and decided to make all 2.6 million Basic STAR recipients re-register this year in order to try to find those "double-dippers", people who are either fraudulently or inadvertently receiving two STAR exemptions. It is really only for your primary residence and takes $30,000 off of your school taxable value. Typically, this saves between $500 and $600 a year. It's not money that's shifted to the rest of the population like other exemptions: the ag, senior and veteran's. It's actually money that the State kicks in and pays part of your tax bill. So, the State really has a vested interest. They are mailing out letters to all homeowners. It is simple to apply online. There are about 20,000 STAR recipients in Tompkins County that need to reapply by December 31 St. Any word that we can get out to people in Groton would help. The Enhanced STAR program is for people who are over 65 years of age and 2012 income will be under $81,,900.00. Those people have to reapply each year with the Assessment Department. People who have been in the senior program are used to getting a renewal notification. We have just discovered that we can find out who is turning 65 through the election records. He handed out a STAR Power Point presentation that the State has been doing, trying to get the word out. There will be an appeals process if people fail to sign up by December 31 . The State will notify everyone who hasn't applied in November and again in January and then they will notify the local assessor in March. At that point we will know how many people haven't applied and attempts will be made to mail something out, or do a pre- recorded telephone message, or reach out to the town boards for assistance in contacting some of the people. There is no statewide database between all of the assessment departments, so people could own multiple residences and receive more than one STAR exemption. But through this system, a person will not be able to register twice. The penalty for receiving multiple exemptions will increase also. The legislation also requires re-registering every three or four years. Patrick Jordan, from Ciaschi, Dietershagen, Little, Mickelson & Company, LLP - Brought copies of the final 2012 audit of the Town's financial statements and the Justice Court audit. He explained the audit to the Board and gave a brief overview of the opinions rendered. Nothing significant was found during the audit and results were positive. Town Board Minutes Page 4 September 9,2013 RESOLUTION #13-057 - SET BUDGET WORKSHOP SCHEDULE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets the following 2014 Budget Workshop Schedule: Tuesday, September 17t" @ 5:00 pm - Highway Wednesday, September 18t" @ 4:00 pm - Highway Employees @ 4:45 pm -Town Clerk Thursday, September 19t" @ 4:00 pm - Court Tuesday, September 24t" @ 7:00 PM Thursday, September 26t" @ 7:00 PM RESOLUTION #13-058 - SET DATE FOR SPECIAL MEETING MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets a Special Meeting for the purpose of the Town Clerk's presentation of the Tentative Budget to the Town Board on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at 6:OOpm. RESOLUTION #13-059 - COURT CLERK TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the payment of expenses for the Court Clerk, Cindy Vicedomini to attend the 2013 Court Clerks Annual Conference, October 6-9, 2013, in Albany, NY. Announcements: ➢ Planning Board Meeting, September 19 at 7:30 pm ➢ Zoning Board of Appeals, September 25 at 7:00 pm ➢ Groton Business Association, September 18, 6:00 pm at the American Legion ➢ Apples, Antiques and the Arts, September 14, 1 1 :00 am - 5:00 pm, there will be and art and photography show at the Town Hall sponsored by the Groton Hobby Shop. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:02 pm. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Town Clerk