HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-11-01 - PB BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING
TOWN OF ULYSSES
11 - 1 - 93
P RESENT : Supervisor William P . Hogan ; Councilpeople Thomas
Reitz , Catherine Stover , and Ben Curtis ; Town Clerk
Marsha L . Georgia .
O thers Present : Douglas Austic and Alex Rachun
S upervisor Hogan opened the Public Hearing at 7 : 05 pm to review
the 1994 Budget . Mr . Hogan asked if everyone had received a copy
of the Budget . They had .
Mr . Hogan asked if anyone had any questions about the budget at
this time . He asked the Board members if they had any questions ,
comments or changes .
Mr . Reitz stated that this is the Public Hearing on the budget and
it is not appropriate to have the board ' s comments . Mrs . Stover
stated that - she does have questions on some items . Mr . Reitz
stated that maybe the process should be clarified and when the
board expects to pass the final budget .
Mr . Rachun had a couple of questions for the Board . He asked
about the year to date figures for his revenue in part - town . Mr .
Hogan stated that the figures are as of September 30th , 1993 .
Alex did not feel that all his revenue collected had been
reported in the correct categories . He had gotten a print out
from the Clerk and it was different than the totals reflected . He
believes that there should be over $ 3000 reflected in building
fees and only $ 2308fis reported . . . . he wonders if Jeanne is
posting things differently from his understanding .
He stated that this year and last year he has been very cautious
in spending his contractual and trying to maintain that surplus
and balance . At the end of the year when I have surplus it goes
into the general fund and is never reflected in my budget . There
will come . a time when I will need some more and I don ' t think I
have a huge budget : on the CE of a $ 1100 . This should not have
been cut back to $ 900 maybe $ 1000 . After using gas money I would
not have any left if I was to do any travel or training . I may
need some equipment .. I just question why the contractual under
building and zoning had to be cut each by $ 200 . These cuts equal
about $ 800 .. I feel . that it is a bit steep .
Mr . Hogan stated he would look at why the Board hade done that .
The Board discussed the revenue and appropriations in part - town
with Alex . He feels that the revenues are probably much in line .
He hopes that building will • pick up . He leels that $ 4000 is a
very realistic average for building fees .
Mr . Reitz asked if the fees that the town is charging for
building permits is in line to cover his expenses . Alex stated
they wouldn ' t cover his expenses but he has a , problem hitting
business up hard and hitting : the home owner not as hard . It
seems that • is the way things are done until I find a better way
to do it . I won ' t spend ten times the time at • the Special
Children ' s center as - I did Mr . Wolfs residence per se . Mr .
® Wolf ' s fee was . $ 300 and the Children ' s Center is $ 3000 . Mr .
Hogan asked if - those fee schedules were revised . They have been .
Alex stated that he knows that it is good to come in under budget
and he tries - to always do : that ' but he feels that he is penalized
for that because when he - has money : left - over it goes into general
fund . It would : be - nice - if it could • stay in part - town .
Mrs . - Stover asked - if it was : reasonable that the zoning fees have
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P ublic Hearing / Budget 2
Town of Ulysses
N ovember 1 , 1993
been dropped down . Alex said as we revise the zoning ordinance
and make it more agreeable for the people on the lake to meet the
requirements of zoning without the similar demands up here ; ie :
200 ' circle and the rest . Think our BZA will profit because lake
property represents about 90 % of the hearings . Right now the
lake is dead ; nobody is buying , selling or building . They are
being taxed to death . So I ' ve had no work on the lake the past
year , which is very unusual . That ' s a direct on the reassessment
and the taxes . Mrs . Stover asked about capital expenses . . . Alex
said no , talking about perhaps a calculator , stapler , that sort
o f thing . Share expenses on paper ; capital expenses , I can think
o f nothing .
Alex said in part - town we took $ 200 . right out of CE ; Mr . Reitz •
asked the status , townwide of fire inspections ; they were
partially done by Doug . Alex said it isn ' t done , but it ' s not
g etting top priority . About 25 % of the multi - residences and
public assembly and most of RT96 . Not going to be a number one
priority . Also have done two or three solid fuel and picked up
fees for that .
Mr . Curtis said that when new businesses come in can charge $ 50 .
for a fire inspection . Alex said he would gladly put in
something like that . Mr . Curtis said it helps to keep you up - to -
date on fire inspections . We call it Change of Nonresidential
O ccupancy .
Mr . Hogan said you have $ 2000 . in Contingency , so if you should
g o over you should be covered . Alex said we have a Master Plan
Committee who are doing overlays , maps ; may be a small
expenditure there . Also the Planning Board . Don ' t mind seeing
it lean and mean but wanted to make it known that it ' s pretty
tight .
Mr . Hogan said hopefully the Master Plan Committee is coming to
the end of their task next year . Feel a $ 1000 . will hold it .
Alex said the other matter he would like to address ; he signed a
petition , which the Board may or may not have received . I am of
the opinion that if the Board felt that we didn ' t merit any cost
o f living increase I would go along with that . But you better be
✓ eally careful in terms of how you address a cost of living or
merit increase . If you are increasing certain body of work for
the town under merit you better have some guidelines for that
merit , and have it spelled out clearly , because I feel a little
bit put off getting a 3 % raise and another group of people
g etting a 4 % raise , under the auspices of it being a cost of
living increase . I pay the same amount of money for a loaf of
bread as they do , I would keep that in mind . I have no problem
if you thought the highway crew did a better job than we did and
they deserve a higher percentage , but set the guidelines for
that , let us take a look at it , see where I could do better so I
could merit a little bit more money . If it ' s a 0 % rate for
e veryone , I would go along with it ; would go along with a 2 % , 3 % ,
but I think it should be fair . If it is a merit increase let ' s
see some guidelines . When employed by Cornell , they based 411 increases on merit , but there were very specific guidelines that
the people had to go by .
Mr . Hogan said don ' t think we can compete with Cornell as far as
setting goals for each position and those guidelines . Basically
w hat we did here is we had an executive session and we talked
about salaries for positions and we felt the town highway crew is
an outstanding organization , with the blizzard last year they did
one super job , we were cleaned out before anyone else in the
County and guess we just felt they are the best highway crew in
the County and we ought to show them our appreciation . In any
case , your comments . . . .
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P ublic Hearing / Budget 3
'Sown of Ulysses
N ovember 1 , 1993
Alex said then it should be spelled out that it is a merit
increase and not a cost of living ,
Mr . Curtis said think that ' s a misnomer ; it clearly wasn ' t my
impression that 3 % was considered a merit and the extra 1 % was in
✓ ecognition of the very adverse conditions and the outstanding
job they did , and maybe in the translation it came out all cost
o f living and I can understand as you have pointed out , it costs
as much to live where you live as it does up here and that point
is well taken .
Mr . Hogan said Yes , that was a misnomer ; 3 % was a cost of living
increase . Alex said I can live with that as long as it ' s spelled
out . Mr . Curtis said there is no scientific precision to it ;
think we all kind of recognized that it was one hell of a year
last year and they did just a super job and 1 % is probably not
e nough or whatever , but what Bill says , we can ' t be more precise
than that , that we just felt it was reasonable to do .
Mr . Hogan asked if there were any other questions and hearing
n one the public hearing was closed at 7 : 3tpm .
As an aside . Mr . Hogan mentioned that he knows we are not in an
o fficial meeting but to answer Mr . Reite ' s question . . . thought we
w ould wrap up the budget at the Town Board meeting next week . As
of right now we don ' t have much else on the agenda . Mr . Peitz
said OK , and part of our deliberations about the percentage
increase / decrease of the total budget , we had an in depth
discussion about the percentage of salary increases to the
✓ arious departments ; we would try for a goal of at least a 3 %
cost of living and we are down to where our tax decreases of
4 . 7 % . Can we meet prior to the board meeting and discuss salary
adjustments or do you want to do that at the start of the regular
meeting ? Mr . Hogan said we could meet at 7 : 00pm . Mr . Curtis
asked if that would give us enough tine , suggested 6 : 30pm and was
agreed by the board members . Mrs . Stover said she too has other
questions that were never settled . Want to discuss DA and DB
w ith Jim Meeker .
Respectfully submitted ,
Marsha L . Georgia
Town Clerk
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TOWN OF ULYSSES
P LANNING BOARD MEETING
TOWN HALL
NOVEMBER 1 , 1993
P RESENT : Chairman David Tyler ; Members : Krys Cail , Gregg Hoffmire ,
Dan Smith and Budd Stover ; Secretary : Roxanne Smith .
The meeting was called to order at 7 : 35 PM . A motion was made
by Krys to approve the minutes from October 25 , 1993 , Gregg seconded
and the minutes were approved unanimously .
Discussion ensued on the existing zoning ordinance . David asked
t he Members whether they should work with what exists now or start with
a clean slate . Krys stated that she would like to see all the required
information in one place . Some of the ordinances from surrounding areas
seem more compact . David presented to the Members an example of what
the City of Ithaca has done . They have a pull out map with all the
zones on the front . The backside has the required information on the
zones summarized . They have a very complex ordinance with about twenty
zones . It is extremely user friendly ; the Members were impressed .
Regarding the existing ordinance David said it could be dealt with in
t wo different ways .
1 . Clean slate : starting over takes more time but it will be
a neater package in the end .
2 . Existing ordinance : users could see how it was arrived at .
It would have an updated rationale .
Krys commented about the Special Permit process . The basis for
t he decision to grant a Special Permit has not been made clear . This
could put you in a bad position if you went to court . The Members re -
ferred to minutes from October 25 for the criteria of the Special
P ermit process ( page 2 , items one and two ) . Another aspect that Krys
thought of after the last meeting was extending municipalities through
large areas ( for example two different directions : the golf course
and cemeteries ) . They may not wish to pay for water and sewer . The
criteria for the Permit listed in the previous minutes deal with neg -
ative effects . This may not be a negative effect . It isn ' t a big
issue until you have a. large expanse of land . The Members changed the
criteria for Special Permit process to read :
1 . Impact of proposed use on the neighborhood ( traffic burden ,
demand on municipal resources , population density , character
change , noise level , public safety and welfare . )
2 . Impact on planned future infra - structure improvements and
land use evolution .
3 . As a condition for granting a Special Permit it shall not
be unreasonable for the BZA to require certain conditions
to be met to ameliorate the identified detrimental factors .
D iscussion turned to Nursing Homes , Group Homes , etc . and where
t hey should be located in the zoning ordinance . Krys thought that
t hey might work well in interior fields not under, cultivation that
do not have a lot of road frontage . They need to be provided for .
Alpha House has sixty people living there said David .
O n page 4 , Article IV , Section 1 , items 5 ( third column on page )
the statement " Variations of the standards set forth herein shall
require application for a Special Permit . " will be added to the " Exist -
ing situations . . . " paragraph . Paragraph q will be removed from the
Residence Districts and put in the Commercial Section .
D avid queried the Members on their views on Rlb . If the uses are
t he same as in R1a why have the distinction of more acreage ? After
looking at the City of Ithaca ' s Zoning Ordinance they discovered that
t hey did have some differences . It was decided that they needed to
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TOWN OF ULYSSES
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PLANNING BOARD MEETING
TOWN HALL
NOVEMBER 1 , 1993
look at what was more appropriate on the larger parcels . Looking
back at Section I ( Residence Districts ) under Article IV , The Mem -
bers decided that Rib would be all of Rla plus i , j , k with Special
Permit . In letter f " driving range " will be inserted after the word
" except " . in letter i " Hospital or sanatorium " will be deleted and
replaced with " Treatment or research " .
David mentioned that the accessory apartment needs to be defined
( in R.1a and Rib ) . The Town of Ithaca states that it shall not exceed
299 of the total floor space of the primary dwelling . We don ' t want
to encourage basement apartments stated Kays . For an outbuilding
apartment in R1a the floor space wall not exceed 40 % of the total
floor space of the primary dwelling . In Rib it shall not exceed 0 % .
The agenda for the next meeting ( November it 1993 ) will be to
work on Multi -- Family . The same level of cane that we take with a
big apartment complex should be taken with the Multi - Family said Krys .
We might want to limit locations said David .
The meeting adjourned at 9 : 15 PM .
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