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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 1977-11-17 TOWU OF ITHACA SPECIAL BOARD MEETING November 17 , 1977 - 7 ° 30 p . m . At a Special 14eeting of the Town Board of the Town . of Ithaca , Tompd - kins County , , New, York , held at the Town . of . Ithaca Offices at 126 East Seneca Street ; Ithaca , New York , on the 17th day of November ,, 1977 at 7 : 30 p . m . , there wei` e . I to . ` PRESENT : Walter J . Schwan ; bupervisor ,nd'rew tat . 11cElwee ; Cohhcilrian fi 116e1 Desch , Councilman; !. ,' Victor Del Rosso Caiiicilman , : . . .. Robert N . Powers ; Chu cilmAfi ., ; o Shirley Raffenspcikgerli ALSO PRESENT : JdMes V < Buyouc6a , Town Attorney Lawrence " P . Fabb2'61ii.® Town Vncjirieer/Building .Inspector _1 lertrude H . Bergen ; ` . 12 ,x':: Pine. Free Road Arthur Le Berkey , 128 Christopher Circle Reginald Collins 136 , Rich Road : "u 'st: Freerm#n , 2S ; -, b#Boi6 Road to Nahay H P#ller , 316 Turner. Place ward L . fiollistery 13 blest Haven Road Ed kic' hael Leach , . 268 }3und9r Road Hcrber ; Hahr , 1 ,q3 JLidd ; F 11s Road Bdgar Ra. f ensperger b, 139 Pine Tree Road John, . l3o7.1e � lll5— Trumansburg Road Donald Riket ® 1385 McCklenberg Road Sylvia Van Skiver , 465 Brooktdndale Road , Rrooktondale , M. Y . Representatives of the liedia . Kathy► Kaplan , 11HCU Radio Philip Lerman , Ithaca Journal Joel Cieltzer , WTKO News °-ESENTo Catherine A . Valentino , Councilwoman USE OF REVENUE SHARING FUNDS FOR 1978 Supervisor Schwan reported that on November 10 , 1977 the Town Board had decided to defer until December 12 , 1977 considera- tion of the use of revenue sharing funds for 1978 . It appears , how- ever , the decision must be made prior to December 1 , 1977 because the tax bills for the coming year will be printed by December 1 . If the decision , therefore , were deferred until December 12 , 1977 it would rule out" the possibility of raising the water benefit levy (which levy is part of the tax bill ) to absorb any of the Bolton + Point d ° ficit for the coming year . Therefore , this special meeting has been called to make a decision with respect to the allocation of revenue sharing funds . ''. The Town is now involved with two laws Im - ?federal law with respect to revenue sharing which requires an allocation in the Town budget of revenue sharing funds for the coming year and how it will be used , and Town law which dictates that the Town Board will approve the budget no later than November 20 , 1977 . Therefore , this special meeting was called and the media advised of the meeting in accordance with law . The Supervisor pointed out that a public hearing was held on September 12 , 1977 on the proposed use of revenue sharing funds . The meeting was advertised , in accordance with law , and public input was solicited . The budget hearinalwas held on November 10 , 1977 . The budget p funds .resented at that ti sharing Me did not stipulate the use of revenue Town Board Minutes - 2 - November 17 , 1977 Councilwoman Raffensperger questioned whether the Town had iie't: the requirements of the budget hearing with respect to revenue sharing funds . She said , as she read the regulations , that the Town must have given 10 days ' notice of the . intended use ' of the revenue sharing ' funds prior to this meeting . .. °' if this is indeed to be taken as they budget hearing for revenue sharing funds . " The Suner- visor sad: it was his impression of the proposed . use ` , hearing that the Town , Bb&rd was soliciting publie . iri-put for the , use of the money%as part , bf the 'adopted Town budget to shorn how thq money might be expended . He Cdnceded that Counc lviom4h Raffensperger might be . right with respect t6 the 10 -day notice requirement . He said however , the fact remain . that the Town BOa1rd has .not as yet approved the use of revenue shag ng ' fuhds for any particular purposed that this meeting is being held .: tb do that . The Supervisor said he . . felt that the Town has complied with the 'edek 1 law , but ', that the Board has not yet specified in the budget how the money will be ioent ; that is the object of this meeting . ; Supervisor SchYan said the allocation of revenue sharing funds could not be deferred until January 1 , 1973 ( as suggested by Councilmman besoh ) : beGa se ; Towh law states that the budget , including revenue ; sharing , must ° approved by November 20e in terms of next year ' s allodation the Board must allocate the revenue sharing funds for some specific purpose , irrespective of the fact that it is Fed - eral funds . Councilwoman Raffensperger said her concern was that it was required that 10 days prior to the hearing the intended use should Have been available to the public . In the spirit of that requirement I he hoped there would be as much discussion as possible at this meet - ing . Supervisor Schwan agreed and said this hearing (November 17th ] is the budget hearing on revenue sharing and its use because although t the Town budget was approved it did not show specific expenditure of revenue sharing funds . The specific purpose for which the funds will be spent must be indicated . He explained that in previous years the Town was required only to file planned use reports ; a public hearing was then held , money allocated , and subsequent to that an actual use report was published covering a particular entitlement period . In the past it was never required that revenue sharing funds be a part of the Town budget . ( Town Attorney Buyoucos entered the meeting at this point . ) Councilman Desch asked the Town Attorney whether , in fact , the Town must appropriate as part of the Town budget revenue sharing funds prior to November 20 , 1977 . Hr . Buyoucos replied that the new Federal revenue sharing regulations are creating general confusion throughout the State . There is nothing in Town law with respect to revenue sharing since it is a Federal matter . Mr . Buyoucos said some of the officials in Albany agree there are some ambiguities . He spoke at some length describing the Federal procedures to be followed with respect to revenue sharing funds and the Town law procedures to be followed with respect to the Town budget . He noted that it is the ,urpose of this meeting to identify the use to which revenue sharing funds will be put and to make same a part of the Town budget which may not be altered after November 20 , 1977 . The Town is required ' after this meeting to hold an additional hearing on the use of revenue sharing funds with 10 days ' notice , indicating to the public what the Board has determined to use revenue sharing funds for . Any change in the use of revenue sharing funds would require a further hearing . Town Board Minutes - 3 - November 17 , 1977 The . Supervisor made the following statement : ° I think that has clarified the , revenue sharing and! how it will be finally approved as far as tbe ' Board is concerned and the Town . Of Ithaca is concerned . It does . not address the question that was not addressed at the meeting a week ago : (November 10 ) , and that is how ' we fund the Town of Ithaca ' s share of t'he Bolton Point deficit ( $ 179 , 000 ) Tre have ;:tWO optioiisa ( 1 ) ' Either , we designate revenue . sharing in some amount - for the deficit orAJ ) . w` e raise the benefit rate for water users ; in the Tourin of ithaca', .At this !point we have borrowed $ 63 , 000 , ` of the total $ 179 , 000 required . TnTe will certainly have borrowed all . the . money by' the end of �ahuary . It depends on.. . when the engineering reports come in " authorzing the payment of : the balance of the contractors ' retainages .. A . pay-out will not be autnor � ized , it appears , .before the January 9 1978 meeting of, t } a Southern Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Water Commi. ssi.on : in any event , the ' Tbt,m will eventually borrow $ 179 , 000 , its gh ie ' of : the $ 3001000 deficit by January 9th, - The problem in deferring decision is that the tax bills will be . printed by . the County by December 1 . Further , if we raise the water benefit by the necessary amount to lover one half ' of the Bolton Point 'deficit , it must be by .. NoVember 20th' . : that is Tdifm Law . Ile cannot raise the rate . after that . . . Accordiaig to my calcula- tions , it would require ' approximately $ 20 . 00 .per .unfit to fund qne - half of the deffClt for the com nV year ,. ; 'There are . 4 , 777 . 3 water units on the tak. roll for the coming year . $ 20 . 00 k 4777 . 3 = $. 95 , 546 . The .decision cah , Tae deferred until next year , but if yOu do that , then the money will all have to be borrowed . That means it will run a full year at interest . I do not think we should add that burden to the taxpayer . If you choose to raise the water benefit . levy , rather than use revenue sharing funds , I recommend that you do - it now . " Councilwoman Raffensperger asked why there was not a third alternative - - pay it back from water revenues . She said the Super- visor had assured the Board that it could be done ; that such assur - ance had been given by the Supervisor at the Town Board meeting of July 18 , 1977 . Supervisor Schwan said that assurance was based on last year ' s budget which turned out to be unrealistic . Councilwoman Raffensperger said that as recently as July of this year at which time there was a deficit of some $ 300 , 000 the Board was furnished with material which indicated that the Bolton Point Commission would , indeed , have funds over a period of three years to pay back the bor- rowing . The Supervisor said she was referring to a 1977 budget which was a " guesstimate . '° The Supervisor said that to clarify the situa- tion he would like to trace the history of the project going back to 1972 . He spoke at length describing the history of the project from its conception , to bidding , construction and distribution of water . He covered the following : First engineering report in April of 1972 indicating cost of $ 6 , 080 , 0000 possible bonding rate of 4 % or 5 % con- templated at that timer elimination of West Hill portion of project as too costly in terms of number of people to be served , waited for Audit and Control approval until May of 19741 advertisement of pro - ject in September of 1974 and construction bids came in at approxi- rnLately $ 7 , 250 , 000 , not including legal expenses , bond counsel , en- g1numering , right-of -way acquisitions , etc . , which brought the project to about $ 9400000 , removal from project of certain items which did not relate to the production of high quality potable water , i . e . the administration building ; the construction of the Bolton Point road by the municipalities at a saving of $ 200 , 000 , bringing the construc- tion budget back to $ 6 . 5 million . This with other items brought the project back to about $ 8 million , need to go again to Audit and Con- trol for approval of increase from $ 6 , 080 , 000 to $ 8 , 000 , 000 ; ( this time with more experience and the help of Republican County Chairman and Chairman of the Board of Representatives Gary Lee and Assembly- woman Constance Cook ) received Audit and Control approval in two days , borrowed $ 200 , 000 from the Tompkins County Trust Company at 5 % in order to make payments long overdue to engineers who were hav- ing credit problems with their bankers in Rochester ( Lozier Engineers 031 Town Board Minutes - 4 - November 17 , 1977 having carried the project for three years without payment ,* bid the 1.BAN on February 10 , 1975 at 5 . 29 % , low bidder First National Bank of Ithaca as head of a syndicate of banks , for $ 7 . 8 millions awarded contracts in December of 1974 ,* construction started in February of 19750 New York City crisis ,* following fall with construction two ° thirds completed $A9 5 million spent ; $ 200 , 606 note fell due November 30 , 1975 ; renewed ' - for 5 ,e 5 % ( called a " pure gift " from the Tompkins ' County . Trust Company ) ; renewed $ 7 : 8 million, at , 7 . 8 % interest ( lucky , since some bonds were going for as much as 10o ) P February 10 , 1976 ,goody:° s . downgrades- Tow_ n to MIG I11 , Citing poor availability ta ' nlar - ket , no identity, , and lack of dollarsi note which might have reneTkred for 4 . 5 % was renewed for , 7 . 8t or spread : of 3 . °s which works out to an unfavorable difference in interest of $ 257 ; 4400 ,* double digi.tje 1. f lation . ( 12 ) ,* project was to be completed ; in June of 197 x ; July 11 , 1976 City of Ithaca water break emergency and Bolton_ Point ' in opera - tion to relieve emergency July 14 ` Six Mile Creek problem with City of Ithaca ; Village. of - Cayuga Heights problem with Village Engineer ; Village of Cayuga heights ndt on the system until November ® 1976 South Hill not on system unt"il . Oct6ber . 20o 1976 ,* City of Ithaca: raises water rate 43 % . so i fiov�ii must pay hii her rates for Town custo = mers on City water for part of . last quarter of 19760 „ start -uld costs of $ 100 , 000 ,* aggregate change orders of $ 1: 80 , 000 came along . in Octo - ber , Yovember and December of 1976 ; net effect of .eVents , ;,: reduotion of revenues and increase in' "o ' t ' ; 1977 budget included estimate of what bonds would sell fora received Federal grant of $ 1 million ., could now bond fok 20 years rather than 30 years ,* Town of Ithaca sold water and sewer bonds for 25 . years at 60 - - elated and expected. to renew Bolton Point bonds at favorable rate ; expected AA rating , instead got an '- A rating ,, and had to pay 6 . 7t ; many guesses had to be . made and did what was thought best at the time ,* decisions were made by ku11 Southern Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Water Commission , . including all municipalities ; in a sense there is no " Commission ” but rather the water system belongs to three towns and a village ; the contractual agreement was drawn up in 1974 and signed by all , and all may be sued jointly , the " Commission " has no credit and no assets . Councilwoman Raffensperger noted at this point that the Commission , however , does have a budget , that the Supervisor in the minutes of July 18 , 1977 ( Town Board ) said . . . " that operations and maintenance , including principal and interest payments , will be in reasonable balance next year and the year after , because each year from now on there will only be one principal and one interest payment . ` The Supervisor said that was based on the 1977 budget which was based on many guesses . His prediction was based on a budget , he said , that turned out to be totally unrealistic . Councilwoman Raffensperger contended that when papers were signed authorizing the borrowing , the Board was not told that the Commission could not pay . The Supervisor said the budget was not even in rough form at that time ( September 12 ) . Three days later $ 63 , 000 was borrowed . Councilwoman Raffensperger noted that in the RAN resolution it says the borrowing would be paid back from water revenues.. The Supervisor said he thought it was available . He said the problem with the 1977 budget is that it included a guess on the bonds , a guess as to what power would cost , as to what chemicals would cost . Water revenue of $ 840 , 000 was estimated (which turned out to be $ 825 , 000 ) . He said he did not realize what was going to happen in terms of bond interest rate , in terms of water revenue , and more importantly , the late start -up in terms of revenue to cover interest . He said it simply did not show up in the budget . Council - woman Raffensperger inquired when this budget was actually prepared . The Supervisor said it was in September and that Board members re ° ceived a copy of that budget on October 10 . Councilwoman Raffens - perger inquired why the Town Board was not notified that the borrow- ing could not be paid back from Bolton Point revenues as had been anticipated . She said the budget ( Town Board ) was being prepared , that there was a great deal of publicity , and questions were being asked . The Supervisor said it was his feeling that there were rev- enue sharing funds available and that the matter was not crucial . Councilman Powers asked when it was known there was a deficit . The Town Board Minutes - 5 - November 17 , 1977 Supervisor said in July . Councilwoman Raffensperger . saic? if the Town advertises the fact that it will spend $ 171000 . for a traffic control - ler , then certainly there should have been verbal notice :° that there was a $ 330 , 000 deficit . The Supervisor noted that $ 330 ; 000 was only the maximum amount ; the amount actually contemplated is 5" 300 ,. 000 of which the Town of Ithaca ' s share is $ 179 , 000. . Councilwoman Baffens - perger said it is $ 185 , 000 when interest is included. . Supervisor Schwan agreed , if the borrowing is allowed to run . at interest for a full year . Mr . Berkey asked If he were correct in . that the Town Board did not mention in , either the budget hearing or the hearing on revenue sharing that . it would be necessary to use revenue . 9harinq funds to pay the Bolton Point deficit.. . . ; The Supervisor said the Board was aware' as early as July that there ' vas ;a .deficit and that the Town of Ithaca ' s' share . was $ 179 , 000 . flii Berkey said at that time , however , the Supervisor anticipated that the Bolton Point ; revenues would be used to .pay the deficit < ` The . Super"visor said itA was his feeling at that time that the deficit could be paid for from water revenues in two years. 13r . Berkey . said there was � no �.ndication at either the budget hearing which was held on Thursday ' November 10 , or the hearing on revenue sharing on Set) e"iber 12 that the T64wn might have to use revenue sharing money . to pay the Town of Ithaca ' s ' share of the deficits The Supervisor ' said that • a week ago ( Povember 10 )' the Board discussed the Bolton Point deficit aiid whether revenue sharing would be ' used . Pik . Berkey said the discussion with ,regard to the use of revenue sharing funds was held after the budget hear- ing was closed . The Supervisor said that was correct . Berkey inquired whether change orders did hot have to be . approved before the contractor performs the work . The Supervisor said when a change order is presented to the Commission it is a com- plete document prepared by the engineers (Lozier ) and is approved by the Commission . Mr . Berkey asked when the change orders were approved . The Supervisor said one was approved on October 12 , two on November 10 , and four in December of 1976 . The Commission knew specifically what the amount of the change orders were , but not in advance , the Supervisor noted . 14r . Berkey said that the retainages are a given percentage of the contracts ( 5 % ) and that they should have come as no surprise to the Commission . Supervisor Schwan said that was true . Pir . Berkey asked if the retainages were increased to cover the change orders . Supervisor Schwan said they were Par . Berkey said the difference between the original BAN in- terest rate of 5 . 29 % and the actual 7 . 8 % is 2 . 5 % . This multiplied by the $ 7 . 8 million gives interest of $ 195 , 000 rather than the $ 257 , 400 noted by the Supervisor . Supervisor Schwan explained that if the New York City crisis had not occurred the note would have been renewed at 4 . 5 % rather than 7 . 85" or a 3 . 3 % difference . This differ- ence of 3 . 3 % multiplied by the $ 7 . 8 million gives a figure of $ 257 , 400 , which is the amount the Supervisor indicated the The " Bi g Apple " m cost the project . e Supervisor noted , further , that additional money was lost due to the unfavorable spread between bond interest and the Certificate of Deposit interest rate . *fir . Berkey asked , since retainages , change orders , bond rates , etc . were all known prior to December 31 , 1976 , why a Bolton Point brochure sent out in August of 1977 included a financial state - ment which showed a balanced budget for 1976 . The Supervisor said the Sciarabba-Tlalker ( accounting firm ) . budget was balanced for 1976 , but that the brochure did not come out until July of 1977 . The Super - visor said we are still learning in the process whether the budget for 1977 is reliable . Ur . Berkey said it ;lid not appear to him that the major items or the uncertainties were of the magnitude indicated by the Super - visor * Supervisor Schwan said the budget prepared in September of t� F, Town Board Minutes - 6 - November 17 , 1977 1976 was not a realistic budget . Per . Berkey asked if there were a financial statement laying all these things out . Supervisor Schwan said there is a construction account , actual contractors ' expense , and a budget for the coming year ( 1978 ) : Councilman Desch said , " I think we have taken enough time 1 to analyze where we , are . : - 'I , don ' t think . anybody can deny . the fact that we have a . $ 179 ,, 000 obligation . I think the quuestion we� . have not logkingat is what the Board or.. the Commissionis . doing to avoid a similar problem iri . the ? year' ahead . Th&t ' to me , is more I' m ortant than agonizing over . . the numbers e' Tile have not had the controls we have to have to :.operate the „systertt . The Commission has . agonized. over the 1978 budget as much as ;: we have traditionally agonized over the Town budget , - and V . think , it is highly appropriate that they do so , but it will :. take a system of fiscal controls , and I think the I . Town Board has €aced that . matter It n placing in next , year ° s budget the position of ToWh Controller . One of the primary. . : responsibilities of the Town Controller _ is going to be to identify fiscal controls by the reports this Board . ` iust have in oraer to do proper forecast ° It of revenues and. expenses :; and to keep is ; out of trouble in the future . We Have gained a lot of experience : I think it is time to stop pointing f1"hgers at all the different . causes that got us where we are : : 1176 have , several options in terms of what we do with the revenue shari:ng . furds ; but T don ° t . be'lieve we would be discharg - ing our responsibility on b0half df the taxpayers of the entire Town if we did not at this time face ups to the fact that we must select 111 , the most effective way of paying our obligation . " Motion by Counciiman Desch RESOLVED , that this Town Board hereby allocates the . balance of 1977 Federal revenue sharing funds in the amount of * 45 , 216 . 00 and the Federal revenue sharing funds from the 1978 eatitlemer ' t per - iod in the amount of $ 94 , 132 . 00 to pay for the Town of Ithaca ' s share ( $ 179 , 000 ) of the Bolton Point deficit . Councilman Desch said he hoped , in connection with this motion , that there would be further discussion of what others would prefer to see revenue sharing funds used for . Councilwoman Raffensperger made the following statement ° 00It does not do any good to go over the old figures . I don ' t feel it is responsible to vote more money for Bolton Point until we understand better the great discrepancy in figures between July and October of this year . I personally have no assurance that the same kind of accounting errors may not be present in the budget for next year . The Commission and the Town will run out of resources to bail the Commission out of this kind of situation . When we had this situation , Vic (Del Rosso ) said we don ' t want the Commission to come back in 18 months with this kind of problem . You have come back with an enormous problem in a couple . of months . " Councilman Desch said it is the same problem . Councilman Del Rosso made the following statemento. " The problem you face is this : This is a new enterprise . The figures we have been working on are the best estimates at the time made . I guess you sit here and you look at this budget . How do you question these figures ? You have to take this information j based on our prior history and maybe a year from now we will be smarter , and maybe sorrier , I don ' t know . You get into these pro - jects and you take these risks . I think the attitude that has pre - vailed is unfair to those who have spent untold hours on this pro- ject which goes back six years . We face the fact that these are bills which have to be paid from revenue sharing or tax money already paid or increasing assessment to water users . The figures are there and must be met . I think we should get on with the business of soly- ing our present problem , and try to do a better job in the future . When you are making up a budget the best you can do is to try to make an intelligent guess and hope everything balances . I 3Y Town Board Minutes s 7 - November 17 , 1977 think we have done an excellent job on this project . Where is a lot of learning to be done , and it doesn ' t all come out of textbooks , Mr . Berkey . I think we ought to go ahead , anc? ;: I second the motion . " Councilwoman Raffensperger said she had a comment from 14r . Lee Wilkinson , 361 King Road East . She said Mr . Wilkinson wished to protest the use of revenue sharing monies because his understand- ing is that one of the bases for the allocation of revenue sharing from the Federal government is per capita , and he does . not see the whole Town benefitting to an equitable extent from revenue sharing funds and he protests the use of them for the Bolton Point deficit . She said she hoped she had made Pair . Wilkinson ' s point clear . Super- visor Schwan and Councilman Desch said they understood his point . Supervisor Schwan said ' -the first two years of revenue shar- ing funds back in 1973 were allocated to the Bolton Point benefit levy , to . reduce itlfrom $ 37, . 50 to $ 25 . . QOo He said at the September 121 1977 meeting ideas wete : presented for the use of revenue sharing funds . Fie said in his opinion the uses % suggested do not benefit nearly as many people as this utilization ( to liquidate the Bolton Point deficit . ) Herbert Mahr , 103 Judd Falls Road ; made the following state° ment . r . " I have a lon4 standing position . ori that issue . I think I was the only public member at the hearing where this was official - ly tied into Bolton point and I have spoken on the use of revenue sharing funds at every meeting on the subject over the last five years . " I would like to urge the members ( of the Board ) to vote against the motion allocating revenue sharing money for Bolton Point . Reasons : This is an extremist kind of way of using revenue sharing ( I could almost say " radical " except for the connotation of the word ) . It has all gone into the same kind of things year after year , 100 % , 100 % of our revenue sharing over the last five years , and h6w again for two more years for technology , mainly water , for a Town Hall , and highway garage . I agree there are a lot of people in this Town who want these kinds of things . . but there are a large per- centage of taxpayers whose money goes to the Federal government who want other things . . The Supervisor says he knew all along we could balance it out with revenue sharing . There are two things hard to digest ° ( 1 ) the assurance that the Board members will always follow this revenue sharing philosophy ( that is a very dangerous thing that is in the Supervisor ' s mind ) and ( 2 ) never worrying about anything , because there is always revenue sharing to bail us out . ° Since revenue sharing is Federal money and comes back from the Federal government , it should have been used for a multiplicity of uses , more or less apportioned in percentages in accordance with the opinions of the people who have come to meetings . It has always been said only certain people come to public hearings and people who have come have asked for a lot of things which have never been allo- cated . I want to ex'Press that you are radical , extremist ° it is a radical government , doing one thing instead of doing a little bit 1 on the other side . I find that hard to bear , particularly since I have seen campaign literature indicating that some of the candidates are interested in these other things " The Supervisor said Mr . Mahr was off the subject which is the allocation of revenue sharing . Pir . Mahr continued saying . . . `° It is very pertinent . The whole discus - sion for an hour and a half has been about how the deficit came about '° . This is irrelevant . I am talking directly that revenue sharing should not be used for Bolton Point . I think it is important , now that we have finally got the Town Hall and the highway garage , and with these campaign statements , that we start getting these other things . It is not right that we commit ourselves for two or three years 100 % on revenue sharing funds for the Bolton Point deficit . I would urge , Town Board Minutes - 8 - November 17 , 1977 especially those Board members who sent out campaign literature in- dicating an interest in other things , and all Board members , to vote no on this . " Two remarks0 ( 1 ) On the controller ', I am disturbed ; I think the Commission need 's a ; cont roll er , not the Town of Ithaca , and ( 2 ) The information that there was a def .ic t . thit ' could not be covered by Bolton Point revenues came out two days after the election , and after the budget hearing was over '. It is unfair overall . " I urge you ; please , please do not allocate the total money for the Bolton Point deficit . Put it on the water charge rather than use revenue sharing . " Supervisor Schwan said , In the spring oftthis year I pre - pared material . forthe Commis "lion which showed that if the budget for 1977 was : realistic , we `14ould be able to cut the water rate by 15 % . At the end of this current year I thought that budget was realistic . . . . it turned out to be completely unrealistic . If you want me to , I will apologize . It was the best .information available at the time . " Counc ' I ''An .Desch saido " I think there is another point that should be sta ed for the record , and . I will take my share of the responsibility for having. gotten where we area x am frankly proud es of what we hav one . II ask the question = - and I don ' t expect . it will be answered - � where were all the expert opinibns and advice at all. the Commission meetings over the last four years Certainly , as much as I admire our Supervisor , he has never pretended to have all the answers : It would have been nice to have had some help from a few of the oritical people during the period of time when we were struggling with all these decisions . I will finish by saying I hope if we are really interested in where we are going in the future , that interest you are showing tonight will not simply stop at the end of this meeting but will continue . That is what the Town of Ithaca is all about . We will not get there alone . " Mgr . Berkey said that if the meetings were held later in the evening , the public might be in a better position to attend . He asked if the Commission meet- ings are published . The Town Clerk noted that Town Board meetings and Commission meetings are brought to the attention of the Ithaca Journal , TMCU , WTRO , and the other smaller publication and media outlets by way of written notice . Councilman Desch said that every Commission meeting for the conduct of regular business is held the fourth Monday of every month at 7030 p . me and that these are open meetings . The Commission also holds an audit meeting on the first 14onday after the first Tuesday at 12000 o ' clock noon . Councilman- Desch said that if the Town Board members are truly interested , and in view of the many problems the Commission has had , it would be appropriate for those Town Board members to help out . Councilwoman Raffensperger said she did not think it is the place of Town Board members to act as Commission members . She said she has had problems getting information with respect to Bolton Point financial reports and statements and copies of the Bolton Point minutes < She said , in view of her experience , the general public would have even more difficulty . Councilman Del Rosso said Mr . Mahr had made some points with respect to the use of revenue sharing funds . He said , " I think there is a priority on tax dollars . I think the purpose of government is to provide the essntial services that the people need . Water is one of the most basic necessities . I think that should be taken care of first unless you would like to be like California where they could not use the bathroom or brush their teeth . " Town Board Minutes - _ 9 - November 17 , 1977 Mr., Philip Lerman ( Ithaca Journal ) ° askedo Do only people who have a pipe running pest ; their door pay benefit ? Supervisor Schwan said only those people pay that the water is available toe Where : water is not available , th6e opbple only pay one cent per thousand . dollars of assessed valuation': . . He said the water henef it . charge for the original debt service is $ 23 . 00 per unit and it is $ 25000 per unit for Bolton Point .: 1 Supervisor Schwan said. that revenue shang ` . funds is Federal money dvanced for the 1 ' Y purpose of stabilizing, the . tau rate . The : Federal government frowns heavily on any use of ' revenue sharing to reduce the tax rate . to lot to Mr . John Howe , 1115 Trumansburg Road , aSkeda , `' bo I understand correctly that whatever the , Board votes on tohightl mill . be pulblshed and there will be 30. days , to 11 6w the public to , react to . that ? The Supervisor - said . that was corkecft , in order - to cori� ly with Federal revenue sharing reulations . He 6aid , " The problem U3e . ha' Ve is this According to . the Town Attorney we hi to pubAsh in the paper the use we designate for revenue shaking for next year . , .' . The problem is if we don ' t ., nake a . dedisioh ton �jht , ll• November ;20th ; is ' the last day we can modify the budget if �we •have to amend ... .otir budget to raise the benefit rate to cover the deficit : If the 1§oalyd decides to use revenue sharing funds for the. coming year . tb partially - pay off that deficit , it " becomes a decision made for the simple . reason there is no way money can be raised to . apply against the deficit . unless you do it before November 20th . Raising the water benii6kit unit charge by $ 20 . 00 per unit will produce about $ 95 , 000 which could be applied against the deficit . If we don ' t do it by the time this -is publish- ed and another hearing is held , then you have revenue sharing or nothing and the note ( RAN ) runs for a full year . We have Federal law on revenue sharing and we have Town law . Town law relates to the Town budget and Town law says the Town budget must be adopted by November 20th . Otherwise , the preliminary budget becomes the final budget . 6-11e have fixed the water benefit rate at $ 23 . 00 and $ 25 . 00 for Bolton Point . Ile have not included to date $ 20 . 00 addi - tional water benefit charge to cover this deficit . If that is not done tonight , it cannot be done until a year from now because the tax bills will be in the hopper and out by December 1st . We have to notify the County Monday morning if we have made any change in the budget . " Mr . Howe said , " There have been certain innuendos as to the propriety of acts of certain people , malfeasance , or whatever . Is there some way that an independent review could be made by some official office in the State , so that a fair look at this whole thing could be taken . If anyone on the Commission is bonded against im- proper acts , something might be recovered from that kind of action . " The Supervisor said the Town of Ithaca was audited in March of this year for the whole of 1976 . That audit included all the Bolton Point accounts , examined by a Certified Public Accountant , and the books were in order . There was no discrepancy . In addition to that , the Commission hired Sciarabba-Walker ( accounting firm ) to audit the construction account . The books balance and there is no discrepancy , the Supervisor said . Upon question from Councilman Desch , the Supervisor said the Town books were last audited by the Department of Audit and Control at the end of 1976 , and will be so audited again two years from now . The Town will be audited again at the end of this year and a report in writing will be provided to the Town Board , the Supervisor said . Councilman McElwee noted that the Bolton Point operation is a new venture with no prior history to assist in making judgments . He felt that with a year of experience , it will be possible to make more intelligent forecasts in the coming year . X37 Town Board Minutes - la - November 17 , 1977 Mr . Reginald Collins , 126 Rich Road , made the following statement : I am happy to hear other people have trouble with budgets . Every year a little after deer season we get together and we put to - gether a budget for next year . You figure what materials will cost , what trucks will cost , gas , labor , adverti, sing, and you , figure at the end of the year you will have X. dollars , left over . But lots of times it doesn ' t quite add up that way : It adds , up different . . . Sometimes , comes the end of the year , materials cost iCoie than we thought and maybe advertising is more , and labor runs 'inore. every year each year we think we will have enough money left over . to blacktop the ; dr $veway and put out some shrubs .. , Then the end of the year always comes and we have a couple ok bills we didn ' t anticipate '. '. But then something nice happens ( like revenue sharing ) . ' . and some of the people we buy materials from send us ' a check and say they appreciate what we did and so they give us an extra 1 - 1%2 % . 0 a e Well , maybe next year we will get the piri6k tree and ilacktop . In the meantik�e' . we ought to pay our bills first . ' Mr . Edward L . Hollister , 113' West Haven Road , made the fol - lowing statement . " I lgri' t participate in the water dki kk 1 6Je do have a dilemma . . : I admire the group for what they have done . I would hate to think we would be without the wa tejt system ;, - but since we are in a dilemma , it would seem to me that the logical thing to do would be to avoid paying . any £urther . intere9t on . an indebtedness which can be written off this year . ire should accept this in the true purpose in which it was 3.ntended to start with with no . intent to inflate figures . It is almost . impossib e to figure them on the nose . I am in support of using revenue sharing to pay off this debt . s 1. , I�2r . Michael Leach , 268 Bundy Road , made the following state - ment . I feel that the revenue sharing money should be used toward reducing the debt and avoid payment of interest . " Mr . Arthur L . Berkey , 128 Christopher Circle , made the follow- ing statement ; `' I have a comment in response to Mr . Del Rosso . All budgets are not " academics " . I have had a number of Federal grants and re - search grants which require a tight accounting and auditing , and none of them allow you to go over the amount which has been established . You might be interested in that information . °'. For . Berkey then requested that the following formal statement be included in the recorde. " I believe that only by full understanding and accounting for past deficits can they be avoided in the future . Only with an audited financial statement do we have reasonable assurance that additional deficits will not occur in the future . I urge that no funds for the Bolton Point deficit be allocated until such financial information is made available . To do otherwise is not , I believe , responsible fiscal management . " Councilwoman Raffensperger inquired if it was the intention to allocate revenue sharing monies from two entitlement periods , this year and next year . Supervisor Schwan said that was the case , that there is approximately $ 45 , 000 in a Certificate of Deposit now for the payments the Town received in September and November and about $ 94 , 000 for the coming year ( 1978 ) . a 93 , Town Board 14inutes - 11 - November 17 , 1977 At this point the Supervisor called for a vote on the motion made by Councilman Desch and seconded by ,Councilman Del Rosso . The vote resulted as follows, o : Councilman' Del Rosso voting ,Aye . Councilman Powers voting Aye . Councilman McElwee . voting Aye . Counciiman Desch voting Aye . Supervisor Schwan 'oting !Aye . Councilwoman Ra .f. £ensperger` voting Nay . The motion bias ; thereupon ' declared duly adopted . SCHEDULING OF REQUIR PUBLIC HEARING ON REVENUE SHARING The Town Attorney said that the notice with respect to a hearing ' bn revenue sharing must show summary of entire budget and section relating ' to revenue sharing . fThe Board agreed to hold a public hearing on December 8 ,: 1977 at 7030 p . m . in connection with the use of revenue sharing. funds ' ' Councilwoman Raffensperger requested that the Town Board remove from the calendar the , Jainuary public information meeting scheduled to discuss park priority plans because revenue sharing funds for this will not be available , that this matter , therefore , will have to coo baidk to the °' drawing board o " , .The , Supervisor said he thought $ 130 , 000 was allocated for that purpose and for the DeWitt recreation sites Councilwoman Raffensperger said revenue sharing had been discussed for DeWitt as well , as had the publishing of the . . Zoning - Ordinance . There did not appear to be any response to Coun- cilwoman Raffensperger ' s request to remove the public information meeting in January from the schedule (with reference to park priority plans ) . CHANGE OF DECEMBER MEETING DATE Motion by Councilman Desch ; seconded by Supervisor Schwan , RESOLVED , that the meeting originally scheduled for December 12 , - 1977 be rescheduled for December 13 , 1977 and the public hearings sceduled for December 12 , 1977 will be held instead on December 13 , 1977 . ( Del Rosso , Raffensperger , McElwee , Power's , Desch and Schwan voting Aye . Nays - none . ) ITHACA ELM-HAPLE HOUSES , INC . DELINQUENT . TAX PAYMENT The Board discussed the unpaid taxes of Ithaca Elm-Maple Houses , Inc . for the 82 Maple Hill apartments in the amount of $ $ 10 , 406 . 18 ( representing 10 % of shelter rents , less certain allow- able deductions ) . The Tom Attorney recommended that this delinquent charge be added to the 197 .8 Town of Ithaca tax roll as a lien on the property . The Board agreed this would be done if a check is not received in payment prior to the printing of the tax bills . AUTHORIZATION TO EXPECUTE PROJECT APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSWKENT OF STATE AID NeY . S . DIVISION FOR YOUTH The Supervisor requested authorization to execute New York State Division for Youth Protect. Application for reimbursement of State Aid in the amount of $14 , 284 . 80 , and further authorization to sign a contract with the C. ity of Ithaca to pay to the City of Ithaca $ 32 , 733930 , the Town of Ithaca ' s agreed share of the operation of a youth service and recreation program for 1978 . This results in a net expenditure of the Town o :. Ithaca of $ 18 , 449 ° 00 . � 3q Town Board Minutes - 12 - November 17 , 1977 Aotion by Councilman McElwee ; seconded by Councilman Desch , RESOLVED , that this Board hereby authorizes the Supervisor of the Town of Ithaca to execute Project Application to Nei, York State Division for Youth for Reimbursement of State Aid in the amount of $ 14 , 284 . 80 for youth service and recreation programs ; and further to execute an agreement with the ; City of Ithaca ; to pay the City of Ithaca the sum of $ 32 , 733 . 80 . in consideration of the provision by the City of Ithaca for the Town of Ithaca Qf a recreation and youth service program , resulting in a net expenditure by the Town of Ithaca of $ 18 , 449 . 00 for such programs . (Del Rosso , Raffensperger , Powers , McEiwee , besch , and Schwan voting Aye . Nays - none . ) NEW YORK - STATE ELECTRIC & GAS CORPORATION/ TOWN OF ITHACA STREET LIGHTING .00-NTRACT FOR 1978 P . The . SuPervisor reported that a proposed street lighting con- tract with .Ndw York State RlectriC & Gas Corporation has been received indicating new yearly charge of $ 14 , 473 . 54 for 1978 as against the 1977 charge of 512 , 144 . 54 , an increase of $ 2 , 359 . 00 per year or about 12 % increase ( total monthly increase , $ 1970. 00 ). . Supervisor Schwan asked for authorization too execute this contract on behalf of the Town of Ithaca . Since this additional expenditure has not been specifically provided for in the budget , there was brief discussion of where the funds would come from . The feeling of the Board was that rather than revise the budget ( and go through the procedures required to do so ) , the funds should be allocated out of Town-wide contingency funds . Councilman McElwee felt that information of this kind from the New York State Electric & Gas Corporation should be received sooner so that it can be provided for in the budget prior to the November budget hearing . The Board acted as follows . Motion by Councilman T"ZcElwee ; seconded by Councilman Powers , RESOLVED , that the written contract submitted by the New York State Electric & Gas Corporation for lighting the streets and public places of the Town of Ithaca , dated December 11 , 1977 , be , and the same here - by is , approved , and that the Supervisor and the Clerk of this Board be , and they hereby are , authorized , empowered and directed to execute the same in the name and in behalf of the Town of Ithaca . ( Del Rosso , Raffensperger , Powers , 14cElwee , Desch and Schwan voting Aye . Nays none . ) ADJOURNMENT The meeting was duly adjourned at 10030 p . m . until November 21 , 1977 at 5 : 15 p . m . Edward L . Bergen Town Clerk 1 '`