[0:00] Yeah, I know.

[0:10] » Nice.

[0:22] Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation

[0:30] under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:38] » All right. Good evening. Thanks.

[0:41] » Uh just for uh some ease of uh tonight's busy schedule and agenda, uh we're going

[0:48] to let um 93 Broadway go first. Um so um 93 Broadway has applied for a special

[0:56] use permit. Um Matt from Abella will give a little narrative and take it

[1:02] away. >> Thank you.

[1:06] So as the designated village engineers and planners, we reviewed this project,

[1:11] worked with the applicants uh since February. Uh there was a lot of back and

[1:16] forth uh which focused primarily on uh the proposed original use which would

[1:22] involve manufacturing at this at the property which would have required a

[1:26] change in use and in installation of building wide sprinklers and a variety

[1:32] of other improvements that were fairly cost prohibitive. So once that became

[1:37] clear, the applicant chose not to conduct any manufacturing at facility at

[1:43] this point. If they choose to, they'd have to come back and they would have to

[1:48] get a revised building permit. So based on that and as we laid in the notice of

[1:53] the decision, uh we're recommending the conditional approval with many.

[2:00] So, I added a couple addition additional ones just

[2:05] to cover the Alb Countyy's recommendations.

[2:09] The applicants currently reaching out to DEEC and I don't know if you've made

[2:13] contact with Alb. Yes.

[2:17] » Yes. We'll coordinate on that, but we just want to make sure that whatever

[2:21] chemicals and and potentially hogous materials they are using and storing are

[2:26] in compliance with Albany County and DC. And then just confirmation from DOT

[2:32] whether or not they need a highway work permit. Obviously, it's an existing

[2:36] access road. Really not much you can do do with that because it's in between two

[2:40] buildings, but that was an item that the the Albony County identified. So, we

[2:45] wanted to include that as an an additional condition for them to reach

[2:49] out to and I'll assist them however we need to to make sure we we address that.

[2:54] We also updated the environmental assessment form. Copy you on that, Tim.

[2:59] » Correct. Thank you. Uh and the question about the water use, they've confirmed

[3:04] that there will be no use of water for their their uh any type of work that

[3:09] they're doing there and it would just be for their restrooms and and uh

[3:13] cafeteria. So it's the typical use wouldn't change over perhaps what was

[3:18] there uh currently. Um so you have all our our conditions.

[3:24] These have to be addressed before they can pass a building permit. and with

[3:29] Jeff Lyle up to date. Um, Chief Ogdman also signed off. Um,

[3:35] because the there is going to be no manufacturing there, there's no longer

[3:39] the issue of access because that ability to get in and make that turn down there,

[3:43] it could be pretty tough for fire truck, but because there's going to be no

[3:48] manufacturing, uh, that's no longer an issue. And, um, they did find a couple

[3:53] more hydrants uh, nearby. So, um, so we we they they're going to update their

[3:58] site plan as I recommended in the Smith decision.

[4:04] So, happy to answer any questions that you have.

[4:10] » Um, any of the board have any questions? >> Do we need to approve the uh the

[4:16] environmental assessment form prior to this special?

[4:19] » It's a a type two action because it's a renovation

[4:23] building. So there be means that seeker doesn't fly.

[4:27] » Okay. >> There's no no need to

[4:29] » it's a neg deck. >> You don't even need to do a neg.

[4:33] » It's a type two action. >> Okay.

[4:34] » Seeker's done. >> Okay.

[4:41] » Um any anyone else any questions? >> I don't my questions answered before.

[4:46] » Okay. Um Matt, any reason why we shouldn't uh

[4:50] approve this special use permit? >> No. I think we're still in agreement

[4:54] that it should be approved. That's conditional approval provided they

[4:58] comply with all that condition. >> I'll make a motion that we uh approve

[5:04] the conditional special use permit per the condition set in the bill's letter.

[5:10] » Second. >> All those in favor?

[5:12] » I. Any opposed? >> All right. Okay, you got that res.

[5:16] » I got I'll um I'll forward that to you tomorrow with the stamp with stamped and

[5:22] everything. And I'll have I'll have Brian sign the um

[5:29] all the forms I'll send out back. >> Okay, great.

[5:32] » Thank you, Matt.

[5:41] » You guys are good. Thank you.

[5:46] Thank you. >> All right.

[5:51] » Next up, we have a public hearing for the village of Manance 2026 2027. Uh

[5:57] Don, would you please read the notes?

[6:02] No is hereby given pursuant to village law

[6:06] the preliminary budget of the village finance for fiscal year beginning June

[6:11] 1st 2026 and ending May 31st 2027 has been duly filed further notice be taken

[6:19] a hearing will be held in the second floor of manville show 250 Broadway on

[6:23] Monday April 20th at 6 pm all concerns can be um and comments can

[6:31] be sent to to me and sorry

[6:36] and the me open up the public.

[6:43] » Okay. So, uh I'm going to uh do a little bit of a presentation

[6:47] um about some of the charts and some of the numbers and how we got here, etc. Um

[6:53] then we're going to open it up to the board for questions, comments, and then

[6:58] uh we'll take uh questions and comments from the public.

[7:02] » A second

[7:06] one

[7:11] minute.

[7:40] Great. Um, to say that this was a challenging

[7:44] fiscal year, I think would surely be an understatement. Uh, like a lot of

[7:48] municipalities, uh, around our area. Albany, Scotia, uh Scotia for instance,

[7:54] last year increased their taxes 7% and this year is looking at 10.9%.

[8:00] Uh village of Corw 16%, village of Loy 10%, endock 17% and

[8:07] 7% this year. Uh there are challenges across municipal governments all across

[8:14] our state. um has to do with I believe inflation some of the afterco

[8:21] um budgetary changes that are loss of co funds etc.

[8:27] uh tight work uh work uh environment uh retention of employees is important uh

[8:33] we've had some increases substantial increases in the state retirement funds

[8:38] uh health care costs etc. We're not alone in some of these challenges and uh

[8:43] and surely some of the news from other municipalities uh surely documents that

[8:49] when people talk about property taxes uh you know it's kind of a huge umbrella

[8:53] that people talk about but my property taxes are too high. I just want to point

[8:57] out this first chart that school tax uh currently in Man School District is 62

[9:04] plus% of what your tax bill is. Um, it's a lot and uh and in in the North Colony

[9:10] district that's uh a little a little bit less. It's 58.9%.

[9:16] So when you're talking about taxes in general, school tax has always been the

[9:20] majority. >> If you break down man's village tax uh

[9:23] for the current environment, it's uh breaks down to 17.8% for the for in the

[9:28] Man School District and 19.4% in the North Colony School District. So

[9:34] less than 20% of your true tax dollars actually goes to the things that you use

[9:38] every day. Uh unless you have a kid in school, uh fire, police, DPW, etc. Um in

[9:46] fact, if you combine what you get from the town of Colony and Albany County,

[9:51] those numbers are actually higher than in com in combination than the amount

[9:55] that you pay to the village of an ants. So, I wanted to produce this chart

[10:00] because I think the services that people get for the tax dollars that they pay uh

[10:04] to the village, it's a bargain. Um, and I'm not saying that that you know that

[10:10] it's okay to just raise taxes for whatever they are. I'm a taxpayer. Um,

[10:15] and uh but that's that's how the numbers break out. So, um the bottom chart is uh

[10:22] and all this will be on the website in the minutes. Um the bottom chart uh if

[10:27] the budget that I proposed is implemented essentially from 17.8%

[10:34] in the man school district your share of man's tax will increase by about one and

[10:39] a half% as the as the percentage of taxes that you pay in total. In fact the

[10:45] dollars that you will actually be increased are less than a normal year of

[10:49] increase in school. So even with this large tax increase that we are implement

[10:55] or we proposed and the board will vote on tonight um it's less than the tax

[11:02] that you pay from year to year on an average school year. That said in the

[11:07] North Colony district the number increases from um 19.4% to 20 roughly

[11:13] 22% of of uh your total tax dollars. So getting to the the matters a uh at

[11:21] hand um there are five matters regarding our 2026 2027 budget and finances that

[11:27] we must act on tonight. Four are operating and and budgetary and uh both

[11:33] are to correct past a years and balance the budget for the fiscal year 2627.

[11:41] In addition, we need to address our water and sewer rates for the next usage

[11:46] period. The next usage period will be build in January of 2027. And that's for

[11:51] the period starting May 1, 2026 through uh October 31st, 2026.

[11:57] We have discussed these matters in length during our talks over the past

[12:02] few months. We've had input from the public. Uh we've had a lot of uh

[12:07] meetings between the board members, myself and Mary Jane. Uh a lot of

[12:11] questions have come back and forth throughout this process. So, here's the

[12:16] five matters that we need to address tonight.

[12:20] Our recent audits have shown that prior year re- levies for water and sewer

[12:24] charges paid to us by Albany County each year to make us whole have not been

[12:31] appropriately repaid to the water and sewer funds from the general fund when

[12:35] those tax relevant

[12:39] to be repaid. and our resolutions hopefully tonight will take action and

[12:43] accept these repayments. Money is owed to the water and sewer funds from the

[12:48] general fund. The first is a water fund repayment.

[12:54] The water fund is owed a total of $472,100

[12:58] in total relevy funds for the last three years. It is legal and Steve has a find

[13:03] on this. Therefore, that we recommend that this be dismissed for repayment.

[13:07] Going forward, we will put all future relevies when they're paid by Albany

[13:12] County to us, which is each April back to the appropriate funds as they should

[13:17] be. Um, this re levy dispersement is going to and we just received it for the

[13:22] year 2026. Uh, it will be booked to those appropriate accounts broken out to

[13:27] the general fund, the water fund, and the sewer fund in the appropriate

[13:30] amounts. We will lead to motion and I so move to declare

[13:36] the $472,100 from the general fund to the water fund.

[13:43] The sewer fund repayment. The sore fund is owed $518,440

[13:49] in total relevance for the last three years. We must repay these funds.

[13:55] Therefore, this arises amount must be repaid from the general fund to the sore

[14:00] fund. Going forward, we obviously will do the same thing and put the relev back

[14:04] into the appropriate funds. Again, this is received each April. We just received

[14:08] it and it will be booked correctly. It is our recommendation then therefore my

[14:14] motion to implement a one-time 2026 one-time fee on the tax bill called

[14:20] prior year's sewer fund repayment and that will be equal to $169 per thousand

[14:25] of assessed value to make this fund whole and to repay these uh the

[14:30] subitors. There will also be a general fund

[14:34] one-time repayment. The general fund has long been running

[14:39] operational deficits since at least 2018. Over the last several years and

[14:44] accumulated through our audited period 53125,

[14:48] a negative balance of $499,665

[14:52] exists. This must be repaid to balance out the negative reserve through this

[14:57] audited period. Unlike the federal government, we can't just print money in

[15:01] order to and borrow uh against future periods. This must be repaid to balance

[15:07] out the negative reserves. And this amount is actually less than the amount

[15:12] we had budgeted in this year's uh rollover funds of 518,000.

[15:17] The board approved in rollover contributions for the 2025 2026 fiscal

[15:21] year. As articulated in our recent BST audits,

[15:25] the calculation used to authorize this consistent rollover contribution was

[15:29] incorrect. Contributing to this deficit, expenses have just simply out uh grown

[15:36] far faster than revenues. This deficit needs to be repaid. It is our

[15:41] recommendation and therefore my motion to implement on the 2026 tax bill a

[15:46] one-time prior year deficit repayment of $163

[15:50] per thousand of assessed value to make this fund whole. Items two and three

[15:55] will result in a total of 3.3253 per thousand as one times charges of

[16:02] assessed value on this 2026 2027 tax bill.

[16:07] Then let's face the budget that is at hand, the 2627 budget. As our recent

[16:12] audit has shown, this consistent and rollover accounting that we've done for

[16:16] the last 20 years must stop. And therefore, I am proposing a fully

[16:20] balanced budget. No use of reserves in this budget. To balance this budget, we

[16:25] need a tax increase from $9.37 per thousand to N uh to $10.9452.

[16:33] The total spending increase from year to year from last year's budget to this

[16:37] year's budget is $5,000 achieved through significant cuts to the

[16:42] spending plan and a reevaluation of some of our uh revenues. Essentially, the

[16:48] only reason for the tax uh increase is to make up for prior years use of

[16:52] reserves as contribution into the budget, which we can no longer do, but

[16:57] as I said, have been done for 20 plus years. We need to run a balanced budget

[17:01] going forward and this current budget that I've proposed achieves that goal.

[17:07] The fifth thing and the last thing that we need to talk about tonight

[17:12] and we've talked about Atlantis regarding our finances with the water

[17:15] and sewer rates. We have several infrastructure major infrastructure

[17:19] projects that will have an effect on the water and sewer funds. To keep these

[17:23] funds operationally positive, we need to keep our rate increases steady in order

[17:27] to avoid large corrections as have been done in the past and avoid potential

[17:32] operating deficits. It is my motion and it is the recommendation and therefore

[17:37] my motion to implement a water and sort increase of 2.5% for the period

[17:42] beginning 5126 through October 3126 which will be uh

[17:47] build on the January 2027 uh uh billing period.

[17:52] So what does this mean for the average property in Minans?

[17:57] For the total onetime charges, the average house in the south end will be

[18:00] about $332. For houses in the general center

[18:04] village, this would be about $500. In Sage Estate, Roost uh Sage Hill Roost

[18:09] Estates, this charge will be about $700. And uh houses in for instance Sage

[18:15] Estate, this charge onetime charge would be $1,500. Again, these are averages

[18:20] just using the average assessed value and times the 3.32 tax

[18:26] point charge. Regarding the tax increase for this year's budget, the average home

[18:31] limit south end would increase about $170.

[18:34] Center village would be $260, sage estates would be about $450 and Sage

[18:40] Estates would be about $1,100. If we equivalable to 2.5% s water and sewer

[18:46] rate impact the total rate increase would be about $9.

[18:50] I'd like to go through some charts graphs etc. the next

[18:57] so here is here's a I know it's small and again all of this will be building

[19:01] on the website.

[19:05] Throughout the years we've been um running um some operational deficits.

[19:10] That's the the column all the way to the right. Uh over the last uh it eight

[19:16] eight nine years. Uh essentially the village has operated at a deficit. Um

[19:22] those deficits uh while small kept eating away at the budget surplus funds

[19:29] which is the second to uh uh from the right column. Those are the plug

[19:34] numbers. roughly every year they've been 600,000

[19:39] up to 800,000 in 2020 uh 2021 that was during the co period um and we were

[19:47] making great strides in eliminating those rollover funds and in 25 in this

[19:51] current budget the rollover fund we dropped to 518,000

[19:56] again we didn't have 518,000 the budget as the audits have now shown

[20:01] so this year there's no reserves applied in the current budget we're balanced And

[20:06] now we need to move forward. Um, over the period that I analyzed, the expense

[20:11] increase for actuals was up 43%. While revenues only increased by 20 point

[20:17] 28.3%.

[20:22] Um, can you go to assess property? So what are the inputs that finance has

[20:29] in order to impact revenue? Well, essentially the driver of of revenue

[20:34] that we can control is development. The more properties that get developed, the

[20:40] more we can spread the tax base over those properties. Sales tax is a share

[20:45] between Albony County and the village of Manance and other municipalities

[20:48] throughout Albony County. It's only growing as sales tax increases roughly 3

[20:52] to 4% per year. In the current budget, uh the controller I think uh uh averaged

[20:58] that we were probably going to get about 4% of an increase as economic activity

[21:02] hopefully uh picks up after uh political situation uh uh unfolds with the war and

[21:09] Iran etc. Um we also had a drop in 2026 2027 because uh Regeneron's property

[21:17] came off of the tax role and is now a pilot. So we do get revenue from that

[21:22] pilot but essentially it reduced by 4.6 million RSS property values. So we did

[21:28] grow slightly from uh 25 26 to 20. Uh we've also had a significant number

[21:35] of property tax grievances. Um this past year there was a a administrative law

[21:41] judge who allowed basically every grievance to go forward and be approved.

[21:45] uh that uh took about a million one in total uh property value, assessed

[21:50] property value off of our tax roles. We're working with the Colony Town

[21:54] Assessor's Office to figure out uh how this was uh how this was handled and

[22:00] we're going to fight back hopefully this year when the assessment challenges for

[22:03] May of 2026 come through. Okay,

[22:10] so here's here's how the numbers shake out. Uh on the on the left side is is

[22:14] basically our our tax assessments for uh for the last 10 years, 12 years. Uh on

[22:21] the right is is where our property tax increases are. 26 27 going from 3.73 to

[22:28] 10.95 is a 16.8% increase. Next one.

[22:37] Here's how our general fund breaks out. Um, and again, our uh total budget for

[22:44] last year was just $5,000 less than this current year's budget. Uh, essentially

[22:49] uh public safety um I gave you the wrong chart. I did break this one out. Um,

[22:55] public safety breaks down into three categories. Uh, it it breaks down into

[23:00] uh uh police, which is about $1.9 million, fire, which is $245,000.

[23:06] Uh, and then uh also in public safety is uh the the building department. uh code

[23:11] enforcement and uh uh basically LIYS everything LIS are fire inspections etc.

[23:16] Those are the three elements that make up uh the public safety 2.38 million or

[23:22] um two 2.38 uh million. Um

[23:28] so this this is how things break out on the revenue side. Uh with the 16% tax

[23:33] increase our our real estate property tax and pilots goes to $3.4 $4 million.

[23:40] Sales tax is is uh $2.1 million. And then there's some other things, you

[23:44] know, interest penalties, uh some utilities, franchise tax. Uh we are

[23:49] expecting $250,000 of grant funds that have been spent in this current fiscal

[23:54] year to be repaid uh as we complete those grant submissions into 2627.

[24:00] Um state aid includes CHIPS funding for roads, includes our unrestricted aid. Um

[24:06] and there's going to be a boost apparently if New York State can ever

[24:09] get its budget passed. Uh that contributes to uh to the state aid

[24:14] number. Um state aid has not increased from the 19,000 U 512 is it? Yeah, I

[24:21] know that number by heart because it hasn't changed in 20 years. Um under

[24:25] other that includes money we received for from the school for the resource

[24:29] officer and a couple other minor things that that uh go in the other line.

[24:34] We'll come to the next.

[24:39] So, let's talk about revenue. Here's how revenues break down. You know, this is

[24:42] just a simple chart. Mostly our only input is real property tax and pilot

[24:46] payments. Okay. So, the more we grow the Broadway corridor, obviously, the more

[24:51] tax revenue we can generate from developing properties and that will take

[24:55] the burden off of the existing properties um and hopefully keep that

[24:59] tax the tax rate in check. Uh this is our biggest problem. growing the

[25:05] Broadway corridor um is is necessity. Um and that's why board's working very hard

[25:11] to accomplish and get some new entities um you know bringing their businesses

[25:16] and developing property like the one that was here tonight.

[25:20] Go to the next one. This is where our expenses uh uh break out. Um again

[25:26] police I did break this down in this graph. Okay.

[25:30] » So uh police breaks down to 30.6% 6% of the total budget. Uh fire amounts to

[25:36] 3.7%. Um you know different fire departments

[25:40] have different elements of their expenses in in you know in their budget.

[25:45] Um for instance the fire department used to pay for some building related

[25:49] expenses uh in in their old budget. Uh we took that out. I took that out of the

[25:54] budget because that's really a building. It really is a village expense. This

[25:57] building um they paid for some reason for the heat for this building. that's

[26:02] out of there. Uh we we took the grant writer that the fire department uses.

[26:05] It's the same grant writer uh that we pay for for the rest of the village.

[26:09] That's all in the general operating expenses of the village because everyone

[26:12] has access to it, including the police department. So, while it looks like the

[26:17] fire department's budget has shrunk over time, it's really because we took some

[26:20] elements out of the budget. So, um but again, it's a small percentage um of of

[26:26] the total budget. Um and then I also put in uh building and codes so that it's

[26:30] it's clearly labeled what you know what portion of the budget that is. But this

[26:34] is how essentially the the dollar every dollar that's spent by the village uh

[26:40] breaks down. You can see that uh you know transportations the entire DPW

[26:44] department that's 20.1%. uh and uh uh employee benefits, you

[26:49] know, that's social security, uh medical um uh you know, those those um those

[26:55] type of of uh of costs. Um we do have a a generous contingency

[27:01] account for this year's budget and that's the 2.6% in case there's any

[27:05] expenses that that we we didn't account for and the board votes to uh to move

[27:09] those funds and use them from the contingency. Go to the next one.

[27:16] Great. >> Let's talk about the uh

[27:20] water and sewer funds. >> Um

[27:25] essentially, you know, uh the water and sewer funds have to balance. So any

[27:29] money that uh uh that to make the to make the accounts balance, we put money

[27:35] in contingency. contingency, you know, is is uh uh essentially becomes a

[27:42] reserve for those particular funds. Um really self-explanatory here. We have,

[27:47] you know, uh we sell water, we have to buy water. So on the left side is all

[27:51] the expenses for the department. Administration is personnel. Uh purchase

[27:56] the water is is Troy. Treatment and maintenance is running the pumps. Uh you

[28:01] know, electricity service on the pumps. undistributed or costs like uh uh

[28:06] benefits, employee benefits for running the department um and insurance etc.

[28:12] debt services, any bonds that we have that are specific to that particular

[28:16] fund. Contingency is essentially where um any any difference between what we

[28:20] feel like we're going to make on the service of water, that's where we we

[28:24] balance those budgets. On the right side is where we including the uh rate

[28:29] increase where we uh feel that sales of water are going to be. That's a

[28:33] million475. People that pay late or or uh we are are

[28:38] charged uh penalties on not paying their bill is is is 25,000. That's also um

[28:44] some revenue on the funds that we have invested uh as $1,000. So those two

[28:49] funds balance those two sides balance. On the sewer side, essentially it's the

[28:53] same thing only the uh the uh county is where we treat wastewater. On the left

[28:59] side, that's wastewater county treatment. That's what we pay to Albany

[29:03] County for the processing of sewer water. Um, and then essentially if uh if

[29:08] you take the source service charge, that's half of the the the rate water

[29:14] service charges and that's our current formula is 50% of water. So those those

[29:19] two funds balance

[29:27] water

[29:38] So um Miller Man subscribes to a modeling

[29:44] program called Waterorth. Um essentially what it does is it lets us um model

[29:49] different financial scenarios that go out into the future. Um

[29:54] » I don't have the waterwork slide.

[30:04] Um, some of the things that we included in the Waterworth model are um,

[30:08] » they're in Google Drive. >> Yeah, that's all I'm going to grab.

[30:15] » Um, in the past, the village hasn't really looked at uh, major capital items

[30:21] and put those into any type of model so that we know that in the future we need

[30:25] different things. it's kind of in a little bit like if it collapses, we have

[30:30] to buy it and then we figure it out from there. Um

[30:35] we we need to plan and this is something that we we're getting better at um as

[30:41] capital items uh into the future and that's what this water work program

[30:45] helps us do. For instance, this building has had um some neglect with uh

[30:50] infrastructure on it um that we've been addressing somewhat by grants. Um that's

[30:56] kind of been our stop gap while we figure out this financial situation. Um

[31:00] some of the things that we put into the Waterworth model are, you know, we need

[31:04] we're eventually going to need some roof repairs on this building. Uh in 2029, we

[31:09] put in a a number for a bond payment on a uh new fire truck, which is uh current

[31:17] current engine is well beyond its useful life. Uh we're eventually in 2031 going

[31:22] to need a new backhoe. That's about $150,000.

[31:26] Um a new cav uh garbage truck is going to be needed in uh 2031. That's $243,000

[31:34] roughly at today's current values. So plugging these into the waterwork model

[31:38] is is uh essentially what helps us figure out where our our uh financial

[31:43] situation is going to be in the years to come.

[31:47] So let me explain a little bit about that. We'll start with the water model.

[31:54] Essentially what we looked at was where water rates would be and how that would

[31:57] affect our cash position. Um and that was what basically uh drove the need to

[32:03] increase splatter rates by about two by 2.5% each period so that we start to

[32:09] cover some of the infrastructure money coming on from the south infrastructure

[32:13] project and uh uh so if we do nothing basically in 2029

[32:21] uh we our cash position will become negative.

[32:25] uh if we implement yearly increases of totaling 5% 2.5% per period uh our cash

[32:32] position for uh remains positive. Um and essentially by increasing the water rate

[32:40] uh we already increase the sewer rate by uh by that same amount. However, on the

[32:45] store side uh that's not going to be enough. Um, we've talked at length uh

[32:52] over other meetings that the Albany County wastewater treatment plan is

[32:56] going through some major upgrades. Uh, the debt for those improvements are

[33:00] passed on to the different users of that system. Uh, there are large dollars of

[33:06] four different four different categories uh that include uh

[33:12] the north plant which is the one uh that abuts us that we all love. Um, and then

[33:17] there's the one that's uh down by the port. That's the South Plant. They're

[33:21] also doing some uh some improvements to their facility to specifically treat

[33:26] waste water from uh grease and uh um grease and uh they call it fog, fats,

[33:32] grease, and oil. Um uh there's also some HVAC improvements

[33:37] and and some uh that they're going to do and those are specifically related to

[33:41] the incinerator that's there that burns everything that is left over from the

[33:46] wastewater treatment process. So we have to pay all of that and it's hundreds of

[33:50] eventually will be nearly 200,000 $250,000 per year just for manan's

[33:55] portion. So essentially in running this through the the the uh the model if we

[34:01] do nothing in 2029 2030 our cash position in the sore fund becomes

[34:07] negative. So essentially what we're going to have

[34:10] to look at is in 2028 29 and beyond some substantial rate increases just to

[34:16] simply pay that specific item that's coming on our budget. Now the way we

[34:21] would do that is either just raise uh we would just raise the percentage of sewer

[34:26] that is paid versus the water fund. So instead of 50% of water, we could

[34:31] increase that to 60% of water, 70% of water, 80% of water. And essentially

[34:36] that's a percentage rate increase. They're suggesting a 10% increase in

[34:40] 2028, 2029 is 20%, 2030 is 20%, 2031 is 20%. So, we have some some definite

[34:50] challenges on the sewer fund um coming up on the general fund side.

[34:55] » I can't get the slide. I'm sorry. >> This will all be on on the website.

[35:03] » Uh running through the the baseline model. If we do nothing, uh as we know,

[35:08] substantial cash shortage right now and a negative uh reserved fund. That's what

[35:13] we're dealing with with some of the things I talked about the one through

[35:16] five in the beginning of my presentation.

[35:22] With the uh with the current uh uh in uh increases and onetime fees uh our cash

[35:30] position will recover starting roughly 29 2030. So this is a multi-year plan

[35:37] that we are entering into. The unknown is is how big the potential deficit for

[35:42] this fiscal year is. And that's why we implemented some substantial financial

[35:47] reductions in spending to make sure that that uh that uh deficit for this year is

[35:52] minimized so that next year we don't have to have large increases uh uh from

[35:58] the tax rate. We also are looking at some operational

[36:02] changes uh within the police department and um uh and um don't want to get into

[36:09] those just yet, but uh essentially it it would incur uh some substantial savings

[36:15] by uh removing a position uh within the uh uh restructure. uh would potentially

[36:23] result in a substantial savings uh due to salary and um and uh benefits and

[36:30] retirement. Um so we're looking at that as a potential option. Word has been

[36:34] briefed on that. We'll get into that more as that potential situation

[36:38] progresses. But if that if that all works out, essentially the recovery uh

[36:42] shrinks down to the 2728 fiscal year.

[36:49] That is basically my entire presentation. I know that's a lot. Um,

[36:53] so I will open it up to a board for questions, comments, and uh and then

[36:57] we'll go to the topic.

[37:07] So in your prepared remarks, let me go back to it. You said

[37:14] it

[37:17] uh number four. >> Yes. The budget for 2627

[37:22] total spending increase from year to year is $5,000.

[37:27] » Yeah. >> Total spending where what the budget is

[37:35] last year was

[37:39] like the total spending which spending is only $5,000. The general fund budget

[37:45] for last year was $5,000 less than the proposed budget for this year.

[37:53] » So just the general fund, correct? >> Okay.

[38:04] » Um, in doing these modeling, was there anything like showing implications by

[38:10] not paying the water back? I know legally we don't have to, but

[38:14] is there long-term problems with not doing that with our water?

[38:19] » Um, the answer is no. Um,

[38:25] again, we the conversation we had with Waterworth

[38:30] was that the the um the store fund is at the deficit

[38:35] because of those that major Alton County work. Um and um you know eventually we

[38:41] will have uh this the south end infrastructure bond payments coming on

[38:47] the bond payments for the south end project are much more weighed towards

[38:51] the sewer as well. So we're kind of getting a double whammy there with both

[38:55] of those things coming on. For instance, the water fund doesn't have a lot of the

[39:00] road work that's required to replace the put the road back. that is considered a

[39:05] sewer item um not a water item. So uh and the funding that we receive for the

[39:13] water side of the project is a reimbursement from EFC at 60%. Versus

[39:17] the sewer side is only at 25%. So much more of a debt that comes on is is uh

[39:22] and and again like the new programs it's 5050 right uh the program that we were

[39:28] granted on is 6020. So, um, we didn't look at I mean, sure,

[39:35] the water funds could, you know, we we'd be talking about another one-time charge

[39:39] of about a buck 40 if we repay that $417,000.

[39:55] I'll active comment questions. All right. From the public, Charles Uh,

[40:01] first of all, I want to My name is Charles Answer. I live at 27 Brookside.

[40:07] First, I want to thank you and the board for taking a businessman's approach to

[40:14] these potential challenges. It impresses me that he's broken this

[40:18] stuff down into departments and process. not only looking at what the auditor has

[40:24] said but looking into the future and doing mod

[40:29] because what what I want to do is caution everybody who sits up there is

[40:35] there's a pride in living in the village there needs to be a value to living in

[40:43] those values cost money and your vision of helping to raise the ratables by The

[40:52] Broadway project, which I commend you, will not be successful unless the

[40:59] village has a reputation of being a premium place to live.

[41:05] I want to thank you all because as I look around the room, there's more

[41:09] people like me with white hair. And it's important for us. Thank God. It's

[41:15] important for us to know that the people who are managing our money are doing it

[41:20] in a business-like manner. >> But I caution you against racing to the

[41:26] bottom. Do not gut things that have a long-term

[41:32] reduction in the value of the real estate. to simply say that we balance

[41:38] the budget because we cut and cut and cut and cut and cut. Eventually

[41:43] you eroded the value of living in the village. So thanks again for taking a

[41:51] business approach to this. Sounds to me you realize the challenges and your hit

[41:57] going at them on and looking at the impact each and every property. Thank

[42:04] you for that. Don't race to the bottom. It It won't build you the returns that

[42:09] you think it does. Thanks. >> That's right.

[42:13] » Bill, I gave you a letter to all village board members. So, I made a list of

[42:19] revenue sources to help our village produce new money source and save money

[42:24] as well. One and two, they're already set leftovers.

[42:29] And then number three, I made a proposal a couple of weeks ago that our village

[42:34] collect bottles, jugs, and cans plus sell them to recycling dealing. The

[42:38] state of Connecticut already has this kind of program recent. So there's no

[42:44] reason why our village can't do so. And of course our ability collect well

[42:49] several kinds of paper including newsprint and cardboard and then sell

[42:53] the waste paper to paper recycling and take out garbage collection service out

[42:59] of the village budget making separate fees based on usage. The village of SC

[43:04] is already making that conser now I'm sure you read that newsprint

[43:10] that village officials opposed to raising taxes there.

[43:15] I hope you appreciate that I gave you that new printer. I hope you found it

[43:19] interest. >> I do. Thanks, Bill.

[43:21] » And my own tax re money savings. Well, I'll continue to buy my own equipment,

[43:26] supplies, and items when I do volunteer work and other projects and other

[43:30] cleanup details and buy notebooks and pencils for the our village. In fact,

[43:36] this morning I gave two notebooks to the Minneapolis Police Department. one for

[43:40] the police chief and and Kevin the lieutenant and the other one for the

[43:45] police dispatchers. It cost me between four and five

[43:49] dollars, but I don't it's on me, but I thus saving four or five dollars might

[43:54] not may sound like enough, but it's just principles that helping to save money.

[44:00] And of course, I'm planning to donate money to help pay for my evergreen

[44:04] forestry pro conservation project at our village parks hopefully during the

[44:08] summertime, >> hopefully this year. And I know you're

[44:12] going to want to raise fines, but I'm also going to suggest raise sir charges,

[44:17] you know, for village violating village ordinance or minor crimes and of course

[44:22] power all village buildings with bio gas and bio oil as well as continue to use

[44:27] solar energy. So I'm asking that the village board take my proposals into

[44:32] consideration. I spent a lot of time researching.

[44:37] Thanks. >> Thanks.

[44:38] » You're welcome. Right. Do we still have or does the village still have an

[44:42] independent audit every year? >> Yes. Um and so um uh

[44:50] we have had had used a company for >> 25 years.

[44:56] » Um I'm not uh yeah for for 20 plus years. Um the I

[45:04] wanted to change and so I proposed to the board to hire a new accountant BST

[45:08] who specializes in municipal accounting. Um and and that change over is kind of

[45:13] how we identified some of these these issues. Um you know just like an

[45:18] attorney statewide do we ever did the controllers's office

[45:23] » we we had one five years ago. >> I think my point is I think we were all

[45:30] surprised by this year. agree. >> And if we have the independent auditor

[45:34] and a state auditor within five years ago,

[45:38] how how is this just coming to fruition now?

[45:42] » Um I think you know in looking back and

[45:47] looking at the audit reports now that we know

[45:50] clearly what the numbers mean. The numbers were there. It's the narrative.

[45:55] Okay. So if the auditor and you can go back for as many years as we had videos

[46:01] on on uh uh >> the auditor on the

[46:04] » in the website. Yeah. On the website, you can go back and listen to the audits

[46:07] and and listen to the auditor talk about those audits. Um and in none of those

[46:12] previous audits was there a hair on fire type alarm. Um and you know again that's

[46:19] something that we've discussed. um you know what what does that mean in terms

[46:25] of responsibility of that auditor and it's just it's it's it's

[46:31] a hard position to to to pursue. Um more important was obviously addressing the

[46:37] problem um moving forward and figuring out where we go from here.

[46:42] Um just want to be clear there's no money missing. It's just in the wrong

[46:46] accounts. It's just it was thought to be somewhere and it's not.

[46:51] So that's I want to make that clear. Thank you.

[46:58] » Um I just want to follow up on your question. Two questions for the board

[47:02] members. So the you said we must pay back the seal but not the water.

[47:05] » Correct. >> Wasn't

[47:07] funds were both taken from the general fund.

[47:12] Yes. >> So they were in intra

[47:15] but why is it so important that one is >> good question. So um if for instance we

[47:22] had a separate water board okay water and sewer board or water district board

[47:28] that had a board chairman etc etc those are considered independent utilities

[47:33] because it's simply a department within a municipality

[47:38] the funds are looser however sewer funds are protected by the uh by the clean

[47:43] water act and the reason you have to repay sewer funds sewer funds are much

[47:49] more closely guarded is because they don't want municipalities,

[47:54] you know, diverting funds that are for clean water. You know, making sure that

[47:59] the infrastructure for a sewer system doesn't contaminate groundwater, doesn't

[48:03] contaminate streams and rivers. And so therefore, you cannot use sewer funds

[48:07] for anything other than sewer infrastructure responsibilities

[48:11] operating, etc. So that's why those two funds are very different in the way that

[48:15] they're they're restricted. >> So are we fined for using the

[48:19] No, the village can borrow against either of those funds. Um they just have

[48:24] to be be repaid by the end of the next fiscal period

[48:27] » with interest. just one year. No, it was so

[48:34] it seems from going back and looking at the audits essentially what happened was

[48:38] you know the relevant doesn't pay their water bill right goes

[48:42] under their village taxes they don't pay the village taxes that goes to Alb

[48:46] County as a as a re levy Alb County makes this whole and pays whatever that

[48:51] total amount is what wasn't happening was they weren't saying okay this amount

[48:55] goes to the general fund for taxes that we're in this amount goes to the water

[48:59] fund for water arars. This amount was going to the sewer fund, etc., etc. They

[49:04] were just counting it all as revenue or taxes. Okay. So, what we did is we

[49:11] consulted with the controllers's office and essentially our auditor confirm

[49:14] we're going to go back three years. Those are the amounts that we're fixing

[49:17] here. And then we're going to agree as a policy to go forward and make sure

[49:22] obviously that those accounts are credited once we get the re- levies,

[49:25] which is what just happened with the relevy we received uh last week.

[49:30] I have a question about being 5,000 question. So you said expenses exceeded

[49:36] by expenses by 43% >> over over the period that I graphed.

[49:42] Yes. >> Right. So that would mean the total

[49:45] budget increase is going to be far more than just what you said in the general

[49:49] fund. And I couldn't see the number. So how much is the total budget?

[49:53] » No, no, no. Not just the general fund. The entire budget.

[49:55] » Um I don't have I don't have that total. I mean,

[49:59] » give me a give me a second and I'll tell you because I was doing the

[50:03] calculations. >> 518,000

[50:10] » total. That's

[50:20] like last last year the the general fund budget was uh 6.665.

[50:26] This year it's 6.6. 670. That's the general.

[50:30] » The whole budget is going up $662,896.

[50:36] » We have to make a that's including what we're paying.

[50:41] » So of that money of of that uh we're we're 499665

[50:50] is what we're going to do in one time fees. essentially the uh I don't have

[50:54] the the numbers on exactly what the water and storage fund are increasing by

[50:57] but it's it's is a drop is it 2.5% probably because that's what our

[51:02] increase is >> that's annually

[51:05] » so it's for the 2.5% for the period >> uh that starts by one through October 31

[51:13] that's going to go up 2.5% >> but that's not one

[51:18] » that's 5% it's his proposal is 2.5% increase every six months. So we bill

[51:27] every six months. So his proposal is 5% annually.

[51:33] » That's what it doesn't end up >> does not.

[51:36] » Again, the board has to the board has to vote on an increase prior to the

[51:41] beginning of the period that you're billing in. So for instance, if we vote

[51:45] tonight to increase by 2.5% that will impact the next billing

[51:49] period. If we did this May the middle of May and May's board meeting, we were

[51:53] already in that period. So that increased

[51:56] » the it's evergreen. >> Say it again.

[51:59] » It's evergreen. It's not it's not fixed for a period of time

[52:05] » essentially. And I mean again, each time there's an increase, the board has to

[52:09] vote. >> Again, I'm not saying that what we're

[52:12] voting on is to do that. All those increases. All we're talking about is

[52:16] today. I can tell you I can say in the past

[52:20] that the board did not increase water and sewer rates every year all the time

[52:26] for a very long time. When I first moved here my bill was 285 and it was 285 for

[52:31] a very long time. It's not 285 anymore but for a very long time it was just

[52:36] 285. >> I mean there were there were periods

[52:38] where the board would go seven eight years without an increase. Um, and what

[52:43] what happened is by the time they implemented an increase of 10% whatever

[52:48] it is, it was really just repaying increases from, you know, prior

[52:54] escalation. So, and it wasn't putting money aside um uh for, you know, things

[53:02] like we know a pump only lasts a certain period of time. Let's put money aside

[53:06] each period. it's the pump breaks and it's $250,000 to replace it and now what

[53:13] do we do and um eventually that catches up with you and I mean you know there's

[53:17] infrastructure all around the country that is coming to that point we need to

[53:21] get ahead of that >> last question

[53:25] you mentioned the benefits of living in the village so what are we losing

[53:30] you said you've done quite great strides in reducing expenses so what will we

[53:35] lose >> um so oper operationally nothing. Um the

[53:41] the things that we have changed already, for instance, Alb County taking over our

[53:46] police dispatch, that saved us. We would have to pay another roughly $150,000 to

[53:51] $200,000 uh just for salary and benefits for the

[53:55] employees who used to be at our dispatch center right downstairs. We don't have

[53:58] to do that anymore. We pay Al County $25,000 and that service is provided as

[54:03] part of, you know, your your county taxes. only 25,000 actually comes from

[54:07] the village and that's for licensing and some of the communication things that

[54:10] goes into um us working with the dispatch center.

[54:14] » So that's the that's the police department.

[54:21] » No, that's different. That's different. So So um and again I don't want to get

[54:26] into too into the the you know personnel etc. uh like right now, but that's

[54:31] because it's it requires an assembly bill and a senate bill and legislative

[54:36] action and it's complicated. Um but right sizing the police department is

[54:41] something that we're looking at. Um and um uh not affecting patrol at all. Um

[54:47] keeping the same people in patrol, but potentially working out a contract type

[54:52] solution with management um and just reshaping some some of that. Um and um

[54:59] uh you know we have we have some tier 2 employees that are more expensive that

[55:06] are close to retirement and so we're looking at all of our options as far as

[55:10] as far as management. Um but patrol is not impacted at all. So the same people

[55:15] that are on the street today are you know not impacted at all. Um we have

[55:20] made some challenge or some changes. For instance, we uh we closed this this

[55:25] court the court uh and that is now handled by Alba County sorry by Colony

[55:31] um >> uh Colonies I should know that uh

[55:35] Colonies Justice Court um again that you know the impact for the village was was

[55:40] minimal. Um we don't have a lot of people calling and complaining that we

[55:44] don't have a court anymore. So, uh, that was $250,000 a year, uh, in in savings.

[55:52] So, that those are two things that we've changed that haven't really made any

[55:56] impact to the the the village residents, the quality of life. Um, allows us to

[56:01] focus on the things that are important. You know, DPW, uh, yard waves pick up,

[56:06] you know, Colony does yard waves pick up only seasonally. Um, in fact, I don't

[56:10] even think they've started picking up yardways for this season. I know they

[56:15] have it at my mom's house when she was right on the border. So, we do it year

[56:19] round. So, you know, leave pickup. We have the vacuum. We brought the back

[56:23] vacuum back >> um because the winter closed in um uh

[56:27] you know, quickly with the snowstorm we had um uh back in the fall. So, you

[56:32] know, there's there's special hiccup. We made that a little more efficient. We're

[56:36] doing it once uh once a month instead of every week. It didn't make sense to

[56:40] drive the truck around the entire village to pick up six different

[56:43] people's things. We do it once um you know once once a month. Um so little

[56:49] things that we're just adjusting to uh to make things more efficient. Um and

[56:54] you know we still have contractual raises for uh police and DPW via their

[56:59] contracts at 3%. So even though 85% of our budget increased by 3% we still keep

[57:05] kept yeartoear that increase in total dollars to 5,000. I think that's pretty

[57:10] good.

[57:13] Going back to water, did we ever correct the uh the cost that colony phase for

[57:20] the connection for waste water? >> Um, we are still working on that issue.

[57:26] Um, and uh uh we're hoping to get to a finale one way or another on that. Um

[57:33] either it requires legal action or uh or we're going to come to an agree that is

[57:38] soon to be discovered >> because that would be

[57:43] change. >> It will.

[57:44] » Yeah, >> you were correct.

[57:49] » Colony has not been uh receptive. >> Yes. No,

[57:52] » they've not agreed. >> Some other people.

[57:57] » Yeah. >> To me.

[58:00] » Anything else? >> Anyone else?

[58:03] » Well, Arber has something. >> Sure.

[58:05] » Well, go ahead. >> You hear me?

[58:08] » Yeah. >> Yes, sir.

[58:08] » Okay. So, I I listened to all the all the taxes, the different percentages

[58:13] going up for all the residents, and I was wondering if there's a percentage

[58:18] that's going to increase for businesses. >> So, no, all properties, all properties

[58:24] are taxed at the same tax rate, including

[58:26] » Yeah, they did away with the homes. Homestead business.

[58:30] » Everybody, every every property pays the same uh village tax rate.

[58:35] So, the businesses are going to increase by the same percentage that we're going

[58:38] to increase. >> That's correct.

[58:41] » Okay. I You didn't mention anything about the business and I thought maybe

[58:44] they were get they get a skate whatever, but Okay. All right. Thank you.

[58:50] » Thank you, Paul. Anyone else online?

[58:58] » All right. Hearing no further comment. Can we close the public hearing?

[59:02] Uh, wait. Does any of the board have any hearing? No further. We'll close the

[59:07] public or public.

[59:27] » All right, back to the uh regular scheduled program.

[59:31] We need a motion to approve the minutes from April 6th.

[59:35] » Make a motion. >> I didn't see any.

[59:41] » Yeah, I put those in there.

[59:49] » Put it in there.

[59:59] » Warrants and payroll. Warrant number warrant number 22. General $83,96.31.

[1:00:09] Water $4,88.33

[1:00:13] totaling $87,18464.

[1:00:18] Payroll number 23 $98,1723.

[1:00:25] » I'll make a motion. >> Second.

[1:00:28] » All those in. Anyone oppose?

[1:00:38] » Approve the budget. >> All right. We need a

[1:00:42] any further comments about the budget or a motion to approve.

[1:00:48] » Sure. >> Years ago,

[1:00:51] years ago, we always had a hard topic to give to every person when I came in. I'm

[1:00:57] sure. Yes, you're you're correct. >> This I don't know how many people could

[1:01:02] see it, but I couldn't see it. I know you can look on the website, but when

[1:01:06] you've got it in front of you, it's so much easier to flip through and be able

[1:01:10] to see it. And anybody could have a copy. They could come to village office,

[1:01:14] get a preliminary copy. They could come here tonight, get a preliminary copy,

[1:01:18] and then go in a couple days and pick up the

[1:01:22] » We've had them at the village office. >> You do?

[1:01:25] » Yes. >> To take home. We do.

[1:01:27] » Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you.

[1:01:31] » Yeah. Thank

[1:01:35] » um back to the budget. >> Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the

[1:01:40] 26107 budget.

[1:01:45] I will second. So, all those in favor? I. All those opposed?

[1:01:50] » I

[1:01:54] guess nay. >> Nay.

[1:01:55] » You're nay. >> Yes.

[1:01:56] » You're nay. >> I'm on the fence.

[1:01:59] » Okay. >> Uh, give me a second.

[1:02:02] » Hi.

[1:02:06] » Okay. The reason why I'm voting no is because of the police department

[1:02:10] requesting a new police vehicle. I believe that we should be able to extend

[1:02:13] the life of the vehicle from every 12 months being replaced to possibly 18 or

[1:02:17] 24 months. Uh based off the calculations from the police department, they claim

[1:02:22] that they drive 50,000 miles a year, which boils down to about 140 miles a

[1:02:26] day. Uh I think that's hard for the village. I've mentioned before at the

[1:02:30] budget and at meetings where I drive in the village and I see the police cars

[1:02:34] parked. I know that they stay for tagging, permits, all those things with

[1:02:39] the driver's licenses and probably overdue expens suspensions. Um, I just

[1:02:43] believe it's hard to believe 140 miles a day is driven, including they have a

[1:02:47] current take-home policy. Um, I think the closest vehicle that is taken home

[1:02:52] drives 15 miles a day to their house, so 30 miles a day, and some are almost 25

[1:02:57] miles away, so almost 50 miles a day. And that's a village expense. and

[1:03:01] they're claimed to be on call 24 hours a day. I think they live that far. It's

[1:03:06] tough to be at this part of the scene within a reasonable amount of time.

[1:03:10] They're risking their lives and other lives driving lights and sirens from

[1:03:13] their location to the village. So, that's the reason why. And excess also

[1:03:18] with Molly mentioning uh the 3% increases for non-contractual employees,

[1:03:24] we give out raises every year. I think uh we just tried to discuss a lower

[1:03:29] impact closer to 1.5. We unfortunately weren't agree on. So that's the reason

[1:03:33] why I'm voting no on the budget. >> I can.

[1:03:37] » Yes. And we discussed this beforehand as well.

[1:03:42] » I'm going to vote no too because I'm not so sure about the police car, but I am

[1:03:46] sure about the non-traudially obligated raises. And I raised the points in email

[1:03:51] several times and nothing was changed in the budget. So I'm now

[1:04:00] » Thank you. >> Um fire department on Feb on April 7th

[1:04:06] all other elections following officers were elected. Chief Dave Ivan, Deputy

[1:04:12] Chief Mike Stewart, Assistant Chief John Dudley, Nick Jazzar and one of the

[1:04:19] partner captains, DJ Robinson as Lieutenant, Mike Grizz

[1:04:24] Lieutenant, and Mike.

[1:04:28] Um the company officers are the president is Kurt Montaine, vice

[1:04:33] president is Sherry Blender, Nick

[1:04:38] Calvaras is the secretary. John Stangle treasurer financial secretaries Mike

[1:04:44] McKay Serge Collins Sean we have to vote on the line officers even though they've

[1:04:49] been in slow. >> I'll make the motion second.

[1:04:54] All >> those in favor I.

[1:04:56] » Any opposed? Congratulations to all of them.

[1:05:05] » Say it again. >> Yeah. Um, he and I have further

[1:05:08] discussions as to when to to uh handle that. Yes.

[1:05:18] » All right. With all the budget stuff going on, I don't have too much to uh to

[1:05:22] announce. Um, still still talking with the uh teams

[1:05:29] for the uh uh DPW's contract. I'll have that to the board for review for the uh

[1:05:34] May 4th meeting. >> May the 4th

[1:05:37] » May the 4th be with you folks. Um we have Broadway nail or nails on

[1:05:43] Broadway open across the street um

[1:05:48] at 281.

[1:05:53] Broadway. Uh uh let's see what else.

[1:05:59] Um I think that's that's all I have for today.

[1:06:06] » Sorry for

[1:06:14] » two seconds. On Wednesday night, the Upper Hudson

[1:06:18] Library system and man's library and a bunch of libraries in the system are

[1:06:22] holding a virtual program for um you can do it. We can help talking to your kids

[1:06:28] about anatomy, consent, and puberty. So, a lot of parents don't like to talk to

[1:06:32] their kids about this and my library hosted the program in person and I can

[1:06:36] say that the people who present the program are very knowledgeable. So, if

[1:06:40] you have any kids who are going to be that age or are that age, I highly

[1:06:44] recommend the program. It's virtual, so you can just watch on the screen and you

[1:06:47] don't have to be in person and get all red in the face when you say those

[1:06:51] words. And then the library is doing their strategic plan and I'm trying to

[1:06:57] find the when they're having their uh ver they're also having um

[1:07:05] focus groups for their strategic plan. And I said it the last time and now I'm

[1:07:09] trying to find it on their website and I can't. So that's cool. But if you like

[1:07:13] libraries, learn more and help them out with a strategic plan. Take their

[1:07:17] survey. Thanks.

[1:07:19] » Thanks, Lisa. Megan, uh, the only thing I have is I'd like to reach out to CDTA

[1:07:24] to possibly talk to them about rehabbing some of the pads along Broadway. Some of

[1:07:30] them have overgrown, especially with springtime, summertime. If not, then

[1:07:32] maybe our DPW can just weed whack it. >> They do. They'll be out there now,

[1:07:36] though. >> Yeah, they just put the bike.

[1:07:38] » You get a pad by Glenwood. >> Yeah,

[1:07:40] » that's actually >> It's a pad there. Just can't see.

[1:07:42] » No, there's not. There's not there. No, there's no pad there.

[1:07:45] » Um >> Brian and I had when we did the Broadway

[1:07:49] corridor meeting, that was the first thing that I said when we started

[1:07:53] talking about that. >> I did remember the lights by the bus

[1:07:57] stop outside Burger King are fixed. I went by the other night and they were

[1:08:01] working. So, thank your calls have made me happy.

[1:08:06] » I put that on the list. >> You can check it off. Colony Town of

[1:08:11] Colony fix the lights by the bus stop on Broadway in

[1:08:16] » Steve. Should we vote I'm sorry. >> Okay. Um should we vote specifically on

[1:08:22] the onetime charges to be added to the tax bill since we the vote we took was

[1:08:27] really for this fiscal year's budget. Should we put on the record the charges

[1:08:32] that are necessary or do you >> you should

[1:08:34] » Okay. All right. So, um again I uh regarding going back to

[1:08:42] Yes, exactly. So, so let's let's go let's go through uh the five items that

[1:08:47] I >> uh that I uh you know that I mentioned

[1:08:53] um in the opening. Um >> my motion was to dismiss the or decline

[1:09:01] the repayment of the 472,100 from the general fund to the water fund

[1:09:06] for those years. So that is my motion. Second.

[1:09:10] » All those in favor? >> I.

[1:09:12] » Anyone opposed? >> All right. Then we have the sewer fund

[1:09:15] repayment. That's 518,440. That will be assessed as a prior or 2026

[1:09:22] onetime charge prior year sewer fund repayment of $1.69

[1:09:27] per thousand of assessed value. That is my motion.

[1:09:30] » Second. >> All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed?

[1:09:36] Um then we need to fund the accumulated deficit of

[1:09:42] 499,665,000.

[1:09:46] That will result in a $163 per,000 of assessed value. Uh totaling for those

[1:09:52] two items 3.3253 per thousand. So my motion is to charge 1.62 per thousand of

[1:09:59] assessed value for a prior year deficit repayment. That is my motion. Also one

[1:10:03] time. >> Also one time.

[1:10:05] » Uh second. >> All those in favor? I.

[1:10:08] » Anyone oppose? >> Okay. Uh that makes a square except for

[1:10:12] the water rate. It is my motion to increase water rates for the period

[1:10:18] starting 5126 through October 3126 to be build in January of 2.5%. No change in

[1:10:25] the split between water and sewer. That is my motion.

[1:10:31] Second. >> All those in favor?

[1:10:33] » I. Any oppose? >> All right. Thank you for

[1:10:37] » Now, generally in the past when we've done increases in the sewer rates, we've

[1:10:41] done them as a percentage of the water rate. Are we

[1:10:44] » He said that he's not changing. >> So, no change.

[1:10:48] » 50% of the water bill will be >> So, that'll increase 2.5% as well.

[1:10:53] » Oh, okay.

[1:11:01] Lacy had a question. >> I don't I think Nick I think Nick just

[1:11:05] explained it but it's 2.5 for the water and 2.5 for the sewer.

[1:11:09] » Well, so because water is 50% or sewer is 50% of water. If we increase water by

[1:11:15] 2.5% sewer will also increase by 2.5%. Again for the for majority of the people

[1:11:20] that's nine bucks. >> That's twice. So 10% total. No,

[1:11:24] » no, it's it's just for the next billing period and if we want to increase it

[1:11:29] again, we have to >> exact. That's correct.

[1:11:33] » You're correct. That's correct. >> I'm going to get a lot of complaints

[1:11:38] from people who are single and they don't use all that water. I'm just

[1:11:42] letting you know. >> It's not all just buying the water. It's

[1:11:46] very >> They don't care. They're they're on a

[1:11:49] fixed income. They don't care. Okay, sorry. Uh, back to trustee

[1:11:55] reports. Tim, >> uh, the only thing I have to report, um,

[1:11:59] is that, uh, well, Matt, uh, who Rogers, who's already left, and Ivan Vamos, uh,

[1:12:07] gave a great presentation, uh, the capital region transportation council

[1:12:11] has a, uh, has a committee, the active transportation advisory committee, and

[1:12:15] they gave a presentation on April 8th uh, in person at the committee. I I

[1:12:20] attended online uh in regarding a little river project. Uh they it was I think it

[1:12:27] was supposed to last maybe 15 minutes. I think they actually went on for about 45

[1:12:31] minutes explaining the project and and keeping the uh the capital region

[1:12:36] transportation council in the loop on on you know the project as as it's been

[1:12:41] proposed which I thought was great. Ivan, you know, of course, Matt did a

[1:12:46] great job, but Ivan uh was a great help in giving a lot of the background and

[1:12:50] history and so on of the of the entire project. I believe Diane, you on the on

[1:12:56] the uh village gardener side, you started your work as I saw you out one

[1:13:00] day. So, she's she started. I don't know how much she's gotten through yet, but

[1:13:05] I'll get a report down. >> Today's weather doesn't help. Yeah.

[1:13:08] » Yeah. Yeah. Where' that come from?

[1:13:13] Okay, that's okay. Thanks, Tim. Molly, >> where are we with the railroad and them

[1:13:19] digging it out? It's getting worse by the day.

[1:13:22] » I what I'm going to do is the next I I contacted him again. I actually met with

[1:13:29] the the police officer and he's he was going to do the the pothole. He was

[1:13:34] going to talk to the people about the pothole and about that. I've also

[1:13:38] emailed and I called vice president in charge of and I have

[1:13:44] not gotten a reply back. So, what I'm going to do is I'm gonna have give

[1:13:48] everybody a phone number where everybody can it's actually you can see you can

[1:13:53] see it now if you go you know the gray boxes by the by the rail when you go up

[1:13:57] there that phone number you everybody calls that number with that crossing

[1:14:02] number then then it'll get more complaints

[1:14:05] because because I tried >> I mentioned it um I mentioned it to the

[1:14:09] the inspector who has to renew our um threeyear quiet hours. I mentioned to

[1:14:15] him all of our complaints, including the fact that um occasionally someone gets

[1:14:20] pissed off at four in the morning and loves to hit the horn all the way up. Um

[1:14:25] and so uh he's going to look into those issues and we haven't heard back from

[1:14:29] him to do >> we have to we

[1:14:31] » we have to swap out some some uh some signs.

[1:14:34] » The railroad signs are 30 in have to be 36 now. So we had to go out and buy more

[1:14:38] signs. I got to pick those up tomorrow. So, he's going to come back and confirm

[1:14:42] that we replaced those signs. And again, we're going to push the issue with uh

[1:14:48] » all of those all of those different items that we need to fix.

[1:14:51] » And then where are we with the website and whether we can take ownership?

[1:14:56] » I am still I have a meeting this week with me and Brian have a meeting with

[1:15:00] with um >> Sean

[1:15:02] » Sean this week. I I he he was away last week and with everything that's going

[1:15:07] on, I just I just that was so I told we do it this week. So I'll let you know.

[1:15:11] I'll let you know by the next meeting if not if not not sooner.

[1:15:14] » Okay. And then the only other thing I have is Little League starts on

[1:15:17] Saturday, I believe. 9:00, >> am I right? Yep. 9:00 parade up to the

[1:15:23] park. Um if you have a chance, stop by and watch the kids whether you know any

[1:15:27] of the kids or not. It's really great. >> Yeah. Be good. once you cross the

[1:15:30] threshold. Yes. >> Thank you be.

[1:15:34] » Okay. Done. >> Um

[1:15:38] just so everybody's aware we are moving the AED from inside the closet to

[1:15:43] outside >> and at at the pavilion and it's going to

[1:15:49] be alarmed. And there's there's going to be two alarms. There's be alarm when you

[1:15:53] open up the door, but as soon as you open up the door, it's going to

[1:15:57] automatically call 911. It's going to go to Alony County and the town. So, the

[1:16:03] police and EMS will be notified that the AED box has been been activated. So, um

[1:16:10] there's also going to be an there's there's a metal sign that's going to go

[1:16:14] outside that says AED for emergency use only and it tells that if you open up

[1:16:20] the door, it's going to activate the alarm. So that's way I mean so um I have

[1:16:27] one thing we have to make a decision about. Um September 21st is Yon Kapor.

[1:16:32] It's also board meeting night. Um do we want to move it or do you want

[1:16:39] it for Tuesday or you want to still hold it on?

[1:16:45] Just an idea. I just I just want to throw it out there.

[1:16:50] » I feel like we've moved it every year. >> Yeah. I know we

[1:16:53] » I mean that >> do we want to move does anyone have a

[1:16:57] conflict on the to move it to the Tuesday?

[1:17:02] » I highly doubt it but check >> not a real one.

[1:17:06] » Okay. Does anyone mind if we move it? >> I think that would be from the 7th to

[1:17:11] the 8th. >> No, the 22nd.

[1:17:16] » Okay. Sorry. >> Do we need the motion or

[1:17:18] » I'll make the motion. Second in favor.

[1:17:24] » All right. Thank you. >> Um and CDA CDTA has put the bikes back.

[1:17:30] They're up they're back up and operational. And that's all I got.

[1:17:34] » Thank you, Don. Anything?

[1:17:38] » You know, but I was just um for Nick when you were saying about um they drive

[1:17:44] the way they drive from their homes. They have the vehicles.

[1:17:48] » Yes. Does the fire department do the same thing since they have three

[1:17:52] vehicles as well? >> Yes, they all live within the village.

[1:17:55] » So, the other ones don't. >> Correct. Yes. And the fire department

[1:17:59] has a policy currently that they're only allowed to drive 20 miles outside the

[1:18:02] village. So, they're able to report to work and if needed drive home to the

[1:18:07] call or the scene >> and the police department doesn't have

[1:18:09] something yet. >> I don't believe they have a mileage

[1:18:11] limit in their takehome policy. Now,

[1:18:18] Thank you. All right. Public comment bill. All right. Now, items number

[1:18:25] three, 5, 11, and 12 is dealing with my concern about police reports about

[1:18:30] problem. And then

[1:18:34] items 6, 7, 8, 17, 14. My volunteer work projects, which I got so much cut out

[1:18:40] work cut out for. Now, number one, since I will try to get red graffiti stuff off

[1:18:47] of Middle Street like marker number eight on Arts Lane. Now, does the

[1:18:52] Village Public Works garage have any orange cones that I can borrow?

[1:18:58] » I'll have to ask Mike tomorrow. >> All right. I I'd like to know because

[1:19:02] I'm going to plan to try to get project done sometime in May and and I can't

[1:19:07] promise it's going to I'm going to it's going to come off but I'll try my best

[1:19:11] to try to get it off but it's going to be a tough job.

[1:19:15] » And number three I still like to express my frustrations about operating problems

[1:19:20] with Canadian Pacific Railway and their ability. So here the here are the

[1:19:23] issues. One of those issues is that Brookside Avenue railway crossing still

[1:19:29] has got rs, cracks, bumps, and potholes. They still have not been repaired. When

[1:19:34] I travel or drive on east on Brookside Avenue, I swerve around to avoid them.

[1:19:40] Cracks, bumps, cracks, and potholes. That's And numbers the number see. Well,

[1:19:47] you know what that now? Now, how many fire hydrants does

[1:19:52] the village mans got? >> 385.

[1:19:56] » How much? >> 385.

[1:19:57] » 385. >> All right. Now, do they have high

[1:20:00] pressure fire hydrants? >> There depends on the size of the main

[1:20:05] they're on. It varies. >> And how about low pressure ones?

[1:20:09] » It's all depend. It's all it's it's hydro. It's just the static pressure

[1:20:13] that's in the line. >> All right. I like to propose that high

[1:20:17] pressure fire hydrant be painted red while low pressure fire hydrant be

[1:20:22] regular. >> The new hydrants are going to be marked

[1:20:24] with the um >> the the the size it goes by the size of

[1:20:30] the main. So the new hydrants will have that already

[1:20:33] » to be colorcoded that way. >> All right. The reason because the

[1:20:36] village of Balsbach has high pressure fire hydrants are painted red while the

[1:20:42] low fire pressure fire hydrants are green. It's all the It's all It's just

[1:20:46] the the the diameter of the water man speeding up.

[1:20:53] » Yeah. While driving on Canel Street Market Road next to Broadway, I observed

[1:20:59] four highway markers are still missing, plus three highway markers are still

[1:21:04] busted. And I they all got to get replaced with new seven new highway

[1:21:09] markers. I already report this to the police department. Don Han DPW's

[1:21:16] proposed. >> Those are DOT and they're taking care of

[1:21:19] them. >> When will they be reinstalled? You got

[1:21:22] » I think they've given up on replacing those. They uh

[1:21:26] » every time they put them up, they get mowed over uh within a day. So, I think

[1:21:29] they're I think they're done replacing those.

[1:21:32] » I guess they won't bother replacing others.

[1:21:35] » I They were smart. They would. >> But maybe it's better that way. All

[1:21:40] right. Thanks for letting me speak on important topics.

[1:21:43] » Thank you, Bill. >> You're welcome.

[1:21:44] » Anyone else for public comment?

[1:21:50] » Courtney. >> Courtney.

[1:21:51] » Go ahead, Court.

[1:21:58] » You're muted.

[1:22:02] You can go ahead.

[1:22:12] still mute. >> Courtney, you're muted. We can't hear

[1:22:17] you.

[1:22:20] » I don't think you can unmute her. >> Yeah,

[1:22:27] » I'll fix it.

[1:22:31] Uh, >> she should be a little muted. So, yeah,

[1:22:36] » maybe she really doesn't want to say anything.

[1:22:39] » Sorry, guys. I'm Can you hear me now? >> Sorry, I'm on my phone. I couldn't

[1:22:44] figure out the mute button. Um, I just wanted to give a thank you to the

[1:22:48] community. The Man School PTA had our yard sale this past weekend. It went

[1:22:51] really well. We had a lot of people coming out and dropping off donations, a

[1:22:55] lot of people shopping the sale, and we made more money than we made in a few

[1:22:58] years. So, I really appreciate it and just wanted to give a thank you to the

[1:23:00] community. That was all. Thank you. >> Thank you.

[1:23:08] » All right. Uh, we do not have anything for executive session.

[1:23:13] Um, so we need a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion.

[1:23:16] » I'll second. >> All those in favor?

[1:23:18] » Any opposed? Thank you all. >> You're welcome.

[1:23:25] Right.

[1:23:31] » How's your cats doing? Well, thank you. >> I was worked at the farmer's market.

[1:23:38] They was what? I was working

[1:23:45] farmer's. They treated me to pancakes and syrup.

[1:23:52] » Thanks, Dave. >> Well, at least I was kind of making

[1:23:54] pancakes. small

[1:23:59] breakfast. >> Post it up to me as well. There's one

[1:24:04] whole page.

April 20, 2026 Village of Menands Board of Trustees Meeting and Budget Public Hearing

Transcript