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Home My WebLink About2020-10 Newsletter Water Bills Re-Levied The Town of Ithaca re-levies any unpaid water and sewer bills to your Town tax bill. Next bill comes out December 1st. People often ask if they can pay online, you can, but there is a 3rd party fee charged. You can utilize the “bill pay” option most banks and credit unions have with no charge. The Town is just like any other vendor in this case. If your bill is routinely around the same amount, you can even set up a recurring payment with a little cushion and avoid any late charges for unexpected issues with the delivery or receipt of your bill. Any extra is simply credited to your next billing cycle. Many of our snowbirds use this option as opposed to waiting for forwarded mail. Last Rabies Clinic of the Season Tompkins County Health Department will hold its last drive-through rabies clinic of 2020 on Saturday, October 24th from 10am-3pm at the TCAT Bus Garage, 737 Willow Avenue in Ithaca. Preregistration is required and there are spots available or call (607) 274-6688. Town of Ithaca Newsletter October 2020 www.town.ithaca.ny.us FB Town of Ithaca NY Twitter @IthacaTown Town of Ithaca 2021 Budget adopted The Town Board passed the Town of Ithaca 2021 Budget at its October 19th meeting. Highlights from the Town’s Financial Officer can be seen here. The Budget stays below the State property tax cap and the “typical” residence assessed at $300K will see a decrease of approximately $84 or 4% on their Town and County tax bill. Brush Pick up is delayed Due to staffing and the final stages of the renovation of the Public Works Facility, Brush Pickup has been delayed by 1 week and will begin on Monday, October 26th. For details click here Leaf Pick is scheduled to begin on Monday, November 2nd but may be pushed back a bit. Early Voting begins October 24th Town of Ithaca Town Hall Crash Fire Rescue (CFR) 215 N Tioga Street 72 Brown Road Ithaca, NY 14850 Ithaca, NY 14850 Saturday, October 24 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM Sunday, October 25 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM Monday, October 26 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM Tuesday, October 27 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM Wednesday, October 28 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM Thursday, October 29 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM Friday, October 30 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Saturday, October 31 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM Sunday, November 1 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM https://tompkinscountyny.gov/boe/EarlyVoting Town Planning Board Vacancy The Planning Board consists of seven regular members and one alternates. The Planning Board reviews land use and development issues and is charged with determining approvals for subdivisions, site plans and special permit requests. Planning Board meetings are generally held at 7 pm on the first and third Tuesday of the month. Town of Ithaca residency is required and there is a small stipend paid quarterly. Applications are on the Town’s website or email me at townclerk@town.ithaca.ny.us Meetings via ZOOM continue New York is still on PAUSE and the Governor’s Executive Orders suspending certain requirements of the Open Meeting Law continue. Please remember that you can always comment during a meeting or at any time by emailing me at townclerk@town.ithaca.ny.us and the full Town Board and any pertinent staff or department head will receive the message. School Taxes Due by November 2nd School tax bill payments must be postmarked or paid by November 2nd (Due to 31st falling on a Saturday). Payments are made to any Tompkins Trust Company and you can check the status at www.TaxLookup.net Halloween Public Safety Announcement Tompkins County Health Department has issued a public service announcement and guidance for having a safe Halloween. The press release and PDF poster are here https://bit.ly/2GFytCS Bicentennial Tidbit Town of Ithaca 1821 – 2021 The History Center in Tompkins County has put a wonderful display together in the Town Hall Lobby, The Art of Ithaca. Beautiful historical depictions of the views from the different hills. Come check it out. We encourage you to check out Spirit of Tompkins One of the bicentennial initiatives involves photographing town residents in places within the Town of Ithaca that are important to them. Here is the link to the Spirit of Tompkins: A celebration in portraits website: https://www.spiritoftompkins.org/. The initial focus is on Town of Ithaca residents although the goal is to eventually open it up to other Tompkins County residents in our sister towns. City residents were documented in the "We Are Ithaca" project (https://www.weareithaca.org/). If you are interested, please fill out the Sign Up form on the website. Photographer Robyn Wishna expects to take up to 30 more photographs this fall. We want to showcase the diversity of Town residents across a range of dimensions. 17th annual Richard B. Fischer Environmental Conservation Award - the Cayuga Bird Club The Cayuga Bird Club is the recipient of the http://www.town.ithaca.ny.us/richard-fischer-award Conservation Board members presented the award at a tree planting ceremony September 20th at Salem Park and attendees planted 12 Shadbush Serviceberry trees around the playground. The Cayuga Bird Club (http://www.cayugabirdclub.org/) is being honored for educating Ithacans about bird conservation and improving bird habitat in our Town. We especially honor their Conservation Action Committee’s ongoing work restoring the ecological health of the woods at Lighthouse Point: removing invasive plants and planting native species. Tompkins County Seeks Public Input on its Community Resiliency Plan and update of the Hazard Mitigation Plan The County has gathered representatives from all municipalities to review and update the Plan. It is important to gather information from everyone to inform the decisions being made to plan for, and respond to, hazards and disasters that may affect our County. Please help by completing a survey of your thoughts and experiences with hazard preparedness and mitigation ideas. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TompkinsHMP2020 Tompkins County Recycling Center Guidelines now being enforced Beginning November 1st, Tompkins County will begin enforcing established guidelines for recycling bins. This will help the Center to produce clean, high quality recyclables with low contamination that won’t get rejected by recycling markets. Rejected stickers will be placed on the bin and left at the curb uncollected. Brochures are available at Town Hall and here https://recycletompkins.org/dont-let-your-bin-get-rejected/ Hunting and Hiking Reminders Bow season has begun and shotgun season starts November 21st and runs through December 13th. Additional information on seasons can be found here www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28605.html. Although hunting is not prevalent in many areas of the Town and is not allowed in Town parks or preserves, please play it safe…If hiking or walking, wear bright clothing, make yourself heard and whenever possible, be aware of where you are and whether hunting is allowed nearby. Never hike or hunt on property without asking permission. Hunting regulations and common questions can be found here https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/hunting.html Fall Back Daylight Savings Time Ends Sunday, November 1st, just in time for the sugar buzz from all the Halloween candy to crash, you gain an hour of sleep and we set our clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. More importantly, we use this day as a reminder to check and replace the batteries in our smoke and carbon dioxide detectors. This is extremely important to the health and safety of your family; yes, they may still work, but when will they quit? and how will you know? Better to replace the batteries in all detectors now so you know for sure they are good to go. Please be safe and help protect the life of your family and our first responders. Code Enforcement and Zoning Department As our heating systems start to work during these brisk fall nights, it is important to have working carbon monoxide (CO) alarms. Theses alarms provide a warning to the occupants in the event there is a dangerous level of CO leaking from a CO source. If you have no CO source, such as a gas furnace, gas stove, wood or gas burning fireplace, engine, etc. then CO alarms may not be needed. ALL NEW & EXISTING residential and commercial buildings are required to have CO detection and notification, per NYS Code, when there is any appliance, equipment, device, machine, or system that may emit CO. Please keep in mind that this would also include an attached garage. If you live in a building with a CO source, you need to have and install operating CO alarms for your own protection, as well as your family’s. CO alarms need to be outside every sleeping area, such as a bedroom, within 10 feet of the entrance. If you have a CO source in the sleeping area, a CO alarm is needed in the sleeping area as well. If no renovation or addition is being conducted on your building, a battery-operated alarm, with a 10-year battery, would be a good option to install for compliance and safety purposes. Smoke alarms are another critical part of your home safety system which will be addressed in a future Newsletter. Combination smoke and CO alarms are readily available and may be another good option. There are also battery operated wireless interconnected alarms (they “talk” to each other) available that may provide the same level of safety, if they your budget allows. All of these are available at local stores & online, although a store that has one type may not have all types. Older CO alarms have a rated life of 5 to 10 years (refer to the manufactures information on the life expectancy of the alarm and the manufacture date is typically on the back side of the alarm). Replaceable batteries should be changed each time we modify our clocks for daylight savings time. To make sure they work when you need them, check that they are not beyond their rated lives. This is only a brief summary of the NYS Code requirements for CO alarms and does not cover many situations. If you have any questions about this topic, please email us at codes@town.ithaca.ny.us or call us at 607-273-1783 extension #2. Thank you, Marty Moseley, Director of Code Enforcement