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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013 Enfield-Town-Government-Newsletter-Oct-Dec-2013.pdf1 Town of Enfield 168 Enfield Main Road http://townofenfield.org October—December 2013 Newsletter Enfield Town Boards Meetings are held in the Community Building, 1st floor Town Board: 2nd Wednesday, 6:30pm Town Supervisor Ann Rider 277-3478 daylilyann10@yahoo.com Deputy Supervisor Debbie Teeter 277-4547 Town Council Members Mike Carpenter 277-4204 Chris Hern 256-5033 Vera Howe-Strait 273-1413 Debbie Teeter 277-4547 Planning Board: 1st Wednesday, 7pm Virginia Bryant, chair 387-9376 Ann Chaffee 272-6460 Dawn George 273-1247 Steve Givin 273-7434 Calvin Rothermich 272-5930 Marie Van De Mark 277-4383 Dan Walker 387-6394 Town Offices Town Clerk 273-8256 Alice Linton, Town Clerk Sue Thompson, Deputy Town Clerk Town Office/Clerk Hours: Monday-Thursday, 3 pm - 6 pm Highway Department 272-6490 Barry Rollins, Highway Superintendent Town Highway Office Hours: Monday-Friday: 6 am - 2:30 pm Town Court 273-0363 Justice Poole: Monday, 5:00 pm Code Enforcement Office Community Building, 2nd floor Code Enforcement 277-0266 Alan Teeter, Code Enforcement Officer Code Enforcement Office Hours: Monday thru Thursday 8:30-11 am Wednesday 5-7 pm - Community Bldg, dwnstrs 882-9958 Town Historian Sue Thompson 272-6412 Enfield Volunteer Fire Company Art Howser, Chief 272-8757 Roger Lauper, Deputy Chief Kirk Vandee, 1st Assistant Chief Tucker Snyder, 2nd Assistant Chief Andy Senno, Captain County Legislators Dave McKenna Enfield/Newfield 564-7243, dmckenna@tompkins-co.org Jim Dennis Enfield/Ulysses 387-4058, jpd821@yahoo.com Report from the Supervisor What a busy, busy summer! We are pretty well recovered from our heavy rainfall on the night of August 9. Many meetings declared a State of Emergency, many meetings but the roads seem to be quite passable. Complete shoulder work is still in progress and some damage is going to take multi-jurisdictional cooperation and considerable money. Earlier this year, I was advised that a Town our size is only required to have one Justice of the Peace. I researched this with the Association of Towns and our Town Attorney, Guy Krough. A municipality can only eliminate a position at the end of a term. Turns out that one of the Justice terms ends December 31, 2013. Seemed the perfect timing since one Justice position was already vacant due to the untimely death of Jim Varrichio in December, 2012 so, reducing a Justice would not put anyone out of a job. In July the Town Board agreed to do this. Immediately, a resident started a petition for a Permissive Referendum on the question. This petition containing 96 signatures was filed with the Town Clerk. 52 signatures were required. Our Town Attorney looked at the petition and felt that he could challenge the presented petition for defects and get it thrown out. This would have required a considerable outlay of money to pay for attorney time and file an appeal in Supreme Court. It would also cost about $2-3,000 to run the permissive referendum because it would not have been able to be put off to the General Election in November. I decided that the Town Board should rescind the original Resolution that was passed in July and pass a Resolution that would allow a Referendum in the November General Election, since apparently so many residents felt strongly that Town residents should be able to vote on this matter. This matter was again voted on at the August Town Board meeting requiring a referendum on the question to be on the November ballot. That will require no extra outlay of Town money. I want to urge the residents of the Town to carefully consider this question before voting in November: · This is an opportunity to reduce government but not throw anyone out of a job · One Justice has done 80% of the work load for the last 20 years · This is an opportunity to save the Town a little bit of money, maybe $5,000, but in our Town that allows enough $ for Clean-Up Days, it allows enough $ to increase to salary of the Clerk to a living wage, it allows enough $ to compensate the sitting Justice the salary that is commensurate with the workload · Arraignments can be done by any Justice in the County · Once a case is assigned to a Justice that Justice has to see it through. If he/she is sick or on vacation, the matter is adjourned, not assigned to the other Justice to “fill in” · If the sitting Justice is seriously sick or, God forbid, our recent scenario happens, a Justice dies, the Town Board makes an appointment until the next election, as the Enfield Town Board did in January 2013, with no interruption of service to Town residents Is this the time for citizens to put a halt to increased government? Or do citizens what business as usual? That is the question before the residents of the Town of Enfield on November 5. Continued, page 2 2 Important Notice for those receiving the STAR Exemption From New York State: All homeowners receiving a Basic STAR property tax exemption must register with the New York State Tax Department in order to receive the exemption in the year 2014 and after. The registration requirement is not satisfied by your original application to your local assessor. Senior Citizens receiving the Enhanced STAR property tax exemption are not affected by this new requirement and do not need to register. This can be done online at http:// www.tax.ny.gov/ or by calling 518 457 2036 and needs to be done by December 31,2013 News from Code Enforcement With the fall upon us once again, and at the beginning of the heating season, I would like to remind everyone to change batteries in their smoke detectors and check them for proper operation. If your home doesn't have one i urge you to install at least one on every level of your home. They are fairly inexpensive and they do save lives. Also, a relatively new requirement is to have CO detectors. “Amanda’s Law” was passed in August 2009 requiring CO detectors/alarms in all homes new and existing with a carbon monoxide source. This would mean for all homes new and existing with the exception of homes that are entirely electric, such as a home with electric heat and without an attached garage. The law states for buildings constructed prior to January 1, 2008, a CO alarm shall be provided on the lowest story containing a sleeping area, within 15’ of the sleeping area. More than one CO alarm shall be provided where necessary to assure no sleeping area on such a story is more than 15 feet from the alarm. These alarms can be battery operated or plug in models and can be purchased at most department or hardware stores. These alarms are a worthwhile investment since CO is odorless and can only be detected with a CO detector. Please feel free to call me with any questions about requirements and proper location. One last reminder for all of us who heat with wood is to have your chimney checked/cleaned at the beginning of the heating season and as needed throughout the year. Stay safe and warm this winter. Alan Teeter Code Enforcement Office From the Highway Department Wow, lots to talk about for sure. Thursday August 8, 2013, Authorities were calling it “a hundred year storm”, Ithaca Journal reported “Enfield hardest hit” which is amazing since people had to be rescued, by boat from the Cortland Wal-Mart parking lot! Weather channel report 6 inches of rain, which is equal to 5 feet of snow in 4 hours! It was frustrating having to wait even the little bit of time that we had to, (15-30 minutes) until the stormed calmed enough for us to go out, (as to not end up causalities ourselves). But as any trained emergency person knows, it is safety first. We were out by 9:00 pm that Thursday night, we worked until 3:00 am to get Harvey Hill open, checked all the other roads for safety, and then went home slept until 5:00 am Friday, and got right back out there. I was very proud of the guys, they were right on tops of things. With the help of Ulysses and Newfield we got much of the main work done quickly. At the September board meeting We got the approval for storm damage money. Now we can get Fish Rd open, Harvey Hill completed, and some other problem areas addressed. All in all with 44.5 centerline miles of roads, I felt that our road work held up very well, in the face of this Natural Disaster. I do feel that the residents were hardest hit with property damage. Which is why I felt it was a necessity to hold a emergent clean up week, which the town board agreed to fund. Some residents had trouble knowing who to call, as a retired Highway worker once said, “easiest way to tell whose road it is; if it has painted lines on it, then it is either a state road or county“. (Town roads have no lines). I appreciate all the calls from residents letting us know about hardest hit areas. Most were very helpful and appreciative, (We really liked the “Thank You” sign!) and everyone else that has expressed their appreciation and thanks, it really means a lot to myself and the guys. As for some, well when your scared and in the middle of a natural disaster, some people react with anger and blame, and we at the Highway try to understand that. As this reaches you winter will be right around the corner, mailbox spec's are available on the web and at the Highway and Town Hall. Please take some extra time to drive slow on winter roads as most accidents are the direct result of speed. Be safe, and as always, see you on the roads! Barry (Buddy) Rollins Enfield Highway Superintendent Supervisor's Report, Cont. And finally some education on municipal financing. A municipality who chooses to bond a municipal building project has very strict rules that have to be followed, as set forth by the New York State Comptroller’s Office, which oversees and audits all municipal funds. During construction of our new Highway facility, all parties agreed to changes in the original plans in the interest of saving the Town some money. Apparently everyone did not understand that this saved money from the bonding could only be used for very explicit things, the first thing being repaying the debt (bond). Although the Town Board voted unanimously to use the remaining money to repay the bond, they had no other choice. The Town was legally bound to using the money to pay down the bond. Hard fiscal lessons in this time of shrinking resources and increasing demand on government. Off to autumn, my favorite time of year. Ann Rider, Supervisor 3 News from the Enfield Town Clerk’s Office: Welcome to the fall season! We have been busy selling hunting permits, along with renewing dog licenses. Remember, all dogs in the Town of Enfield need to be licensed. Town and county tax bills will be mailed the end of December and can be paid without penalty until January 31. We will have additional hours during the month of January. Our October, November and December hours will remain Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. We are always glad to come in extra hours to accommodate your needs, if you just give us a call. As always, you can contact us at 273-8256. You can also find information on the town's website www.townofenfield.org. Alice Linton, Enfield Town Clerk Enfield Historian Report Sue Thompson We have had an interesting summer with all the flooding. I remembered that we have in our historian collection, a scrapbook about the 1935 flooding in our area. This scrapbook was put together by Davis Tucker, who was 15 years old at the time. The pages are yellowed but you can still read the articles. I copied the articles and will try to get them on the Historians web page for you to look at. If you have pictures of our recent flooding you would like to have in our historians collection, you can send them to me at sdt1@cornell.edu. I will start the History Club during the afterschool in mid October. We will start out with learning about broom corn and trying our hands at making a broom along with “discovering” paintings of Enfield. I will have a display of community buildings in Enfield at the Harvest Festival on October 5, come visit me and share your memories of these many buildings. News Details - Administrator Releases 2014 Recommended Budget Tompkins County Administrator Joe Mareane has delivered to the County Legislature a 2014 Recommended County Budget that maintains (but does not expand) County services, addresses funding challenges at several partner agencies, maintains the County’s fiscal health, and can be supported by a tax levy increase of 3.54%--less than the 4% levy goal set by the Legislature. County taxes would rise by $21 for the owner of an average home. “The recommended budget ensures continuity of essential County services at a time when the economy is improving, but dependence on County services remains high” Administrator Mareane states in his budget message to the Legislature. “It strengthens the County’s fiscal health by reducing our reliance on one-time revenues, keeping our reserves safely above the County’s 10% fund balance goal. “The budget proposes a slight increase in the County workforce to address critical areas of need, but keeps the roster 7.5% below where it stood five years ago,” the Administrator continues. “In accordance with our new Capital Improvement Plan, the Budget commits $317,000 in additional funding—the equivalent of a ¾% increase in the property tax levy—to maintain our infrastructure. Importantly, the Budget marks significant progress in addressing large structural deficits that have been looming in several County-sponsored agencies.” The Recommended Budget supports total expenditures of $170.2 million (a 2.85% increase over 2013) and local dollar spending of $81.6 million (an increase of 1.6%). The 3.54% tax levy increase, which is below the target set by the Legislature, is above the State’s 2.3% property tax cap. The property tax rate would rise by 13 cents to $6.93 per $1,000 assessed value, resulting in the $21 increase to the owner of an average $160,000 home. (The increase for total spending in part reflects pass-through of new mortgage tax revenue and anticipated debt expense to be offset by federal reimbursements.) Positive influences on the budget include some pension relief—a slight decline in the pension rate that represents the first decrease since 2009—and a more than half-million-dollar reduction in the budgeted cost for mandated programs, much of that attributed to anticipated Medicaid savings associated with implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act. (It was the nearly $300,000 impact of the pension rate decrease that enabled the Recommended Budget to come in below the Legislature’s levy target.) Allocations to stabilize sponsored or partner agencies represent one of the key goals of the budget, and result from detailed analysis and study over the past year regarding budget challenges for these agencies. Among the allocations are the following: · An $81,000 (3%) increase in support for Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3). County support has risen by only 1% over the past four years, which has required a series of spending reductions by TC3 and a greater Student cost share. · A 315,000 (12%) increase in support for the Tompkins County Public Library, including $175,000 in ongoing “target” funds and $140,000 in County reserves—to begin to address the Library’s growing imbalance between revenues and expenses, despite significant spending cuts the Library has made. · $680,000 in new Mortgage Recording Tax revenue to Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT), with $120,000 in Mortgage Tax funding retained by the County to apply toward its partner share contribution to TCAT—the new revenue stream expected to stabilize both partner contributions and rider fares. · $218,000 in support to Tompkins County Area Development (TCAD)--$150,000 from local room tax and $68,000 in target funding. The allocation reflects a workgroup’s recommendation that the County fund approximately one-third of TCAD’s budget, in part through room tax, through 2018. “I wish to thank the County department heads and their staffs for their professional approach to the challenges that mark every budget,” Mareane states. “All exercised the restraint we requested, and continue to find ways to maintain service levels provided at high quality to the community.” The Administrator also recognizes the Legislature for establishing clear policy guidance and instilling a culture of fiscal discipline. “When times were the toughest, the Legislature refused to engage in the nearsighted fiscal gimmicks so many others employed,” he notes. “As a result, today we are able to maintain services, stabilize our sponsored agencies, and maintain our strong fiscal health.” Legislators reviewed the recommended budget in detail on Monday, September 23 - the first in a series of meetings that will continue through October. At these meetings, departments and agencies will have the opportunity to explain their budget requests and how programs would be affected by the recommended budget. Initiatives to inform the public about the budget and gather input while the Expanded Budget Committee’s deliberations are in process will include the County’s annual public information meeting on the Tentative Budget October 17, The formal public hearing on the amended Tentative Budget will be scheduled in November, prior to the final budget adoption vote. Public copies of the 2014 Recommended Budget are available at the County Administration office, 125 East Court Street, and at the Office of the County Legislature, 121 East Court Street. The document also will be posted on the County website at www.tompkins- co.org (Click on “County Budget.”) 09-17-2013 4 Town of Enfield 168 Enfield Main Road Ithaca NY 14850 Please Make a Tax Deductible Donation to the Enfield Aquifer Study Fund The Enfield Aquifer Study, to be done by the U.S. Geological Survey, will map the local aquifer to determine the quantity, quality, location of our water resources and any contamination. The Town of Enfield will need to raise $90,000 for the study. We have started this fund to ensure this important project will be done. A number of Enfield residents have pledged to match contributions made in 2013 up to $2,500. We are getting closer to this goal! Please join your neighbors by contributing to the Aquifer Study Fund for a safe and healthy water supply in Enfield. Use the tear-off below to Support the Enfield Aquifer Study. We are pleased to share the news that councilwoman Vera Howe-Strait submitted a grant application to the Tompkins County Community Foundation earlier this year and the foundation awarded the Town $5,000 to help with the cost of the Aquifer study. If you have ideas for other possible grants, fundraising activities or contacts with groups outside the town of Enfield who have a stake in protecting our water resources (for example individuals who like to fish or swim in area waterways), we would love to hear about them. The Enfield watershed feeds not only Enfield Creek (which flows through Robert H. Treman Park into the Cayuga Inlet and Cayuga Lake) but Taughannock Creek to Cayuga Lake and the Upper Susquehanna River Basin which flows to the south to the Chesapeake Bay. For questions regarding the Aquifer Study, or the Fund, or to join us in our fundraising effort, please email: enfield.aquifer@gmail.com To support the Enfield Aquifer Study, Contribute: ___$25 ___$50 ___$75 ___$100 Other_____ · Make checks payable to: Social Ventures (Social Ventures is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.) · Enter on the memo line of the check: Enfield Aquifer Study Fund (Social Ventures will use all funds raised to help the Town of Enfield pay for the study.) · Mail to: Enfield Aquifer Study Fund, PO Box 571, Ithaca, NY 14851 Name: __________________________________ Address: __________________________________ __________________________________ We thank you for your generous support of this critical project, and we will send you a written acknowledgment of your donation.