On Wednesday, Nov.19, The Glenville Board of Trustees approved a $17.9 million budget that will hold the rate increase at around 3.5 percent. That means the average Glenville homeowner, with a home assessed at $173,000, will see an $18 increase in taxes.
Supervisor Frank Quinn had asked department heads throughout town to trim budgets and decrease or eliminate all unnecessary spending as a way to preserve current staffing.
Quinn worked with Town Administrator Anthony Germano to decrease non-personnel finances by cutting costs on equipment and supplies. Germano said the total savings resulted in about 7 percent. The town looked to its surplus of $1.1 million as a way to keep taxes at less than a 4 percent increase.
People are worried about what is leaving their pockets, and if using our surplus helps them do that, then it’s beneficial to do, said Quinn.
Councilmember Chris Koetzle said he was glad to see that the town could keep taxes low while not compromising any of its services, such as leaf pickup, which had been threatened earlier this year.
`It’s always important to preserve the essential services that our residents have come to depend on,` said Koetzle.
Germano said that in coming up with the budget, the town decreased its revenue projections for mortgage and tax sales. He said working through the budget process this year reflected the economic strain that is affecting the entire state, as well as neighboring municipalities.
The final budget also left out protection for Fire District 4 because the town has not yet made a decision about whether or not to award the contract to Scotia, which has covered the district in the past at the cost of $300,000.
`The costs of that contract have continued to escalate, and right now we are talking to the commercial residents in District 4,` said Quinn.
Also at the Nov. 19 meeting, Koetzle introduced a zoning proposal to allow displaced business owner Rick DiCresce to operate his used car lot in its new location on Freeman’s Bridge Road. DiCresce moved his business to make room for a Lowe’s Home Improvement store that broke ground this month, but the new location is zoned only for the sale of both new and used vehicles.
The town will look again at the zoning proposal at a public hearing scheduled for 7:30 p.m.on Wednesday, Dec. 17. The proposal would allow for displaced business owners to continue their current operation.
In other news, the Aplaus sewer project is projected to be completed by the end of December. The $2.9 million project will bring sewer services to about 250 residents. “
