Town, village tax hikes seen in Glenville budget plan

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Goot

The Glenville Town Board on Wednesday approved Supervisor Chris Koetzle’s $18.5 million preliminary spending plan as its preliminary budget with very slight changes.

The budget would carry a 3.55 percent tax levy increase, which is below the state-imposed cap.

If it is adopted by the Town Board, Glenville residents with a home assessed at the average $173,000 would see their town property taxes increase by $21, to total $592.

Scotia residents with a home assessed at the average $130,000 would see their taxes increase by nearly $3, to $110.

Koetzle said he has made some tweaks to the budget, which originally proposed a 3.4 percent increase in the levy. This included putting back $15,000 for Sewer Department purchases. He had incorrectly assumed that all of the requested funds were for a new truck, which Koetzle took out of the budget, but some money was needed for maintenance.

Also, the town is taking on some additional debt. It has to bond up to $170,000 for a project to fix the Brookwood Drive drainage system and will be paying that back in installments.

Town officials say this work is necessary because residents in that neighborhood are getting sinkholes because of poor drainage. Workers fixed similar drainage problems in the vicinity of the Target on Route 50, but there were issues in this area too.

The existing infrastructure is very old and 1,000 feet of pipe needs replacing, according to Koetzle. “It isn’t really designed to handle the development we’re seeing,” he said.

Town Board member Gina Wierzbowski said it is a good budget overall.

“It would be very easy for us to get to a 0 percent, but I don’t believe that would be responsible because we would have to cut services and dip much more into our surplus,” she said.

A public hearing on the budget will be 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at Town Hall.

In other business, the board agreed to make several vehicle and equipment purchases.

The Police Department is purchasing a marked police car at a cost of not more than $32,000. This is replacing a car that was in an accident.

The police officer was driving in a huge downpour when the vehicle hydroplaned and went off the road.

The car was a declared a total loss. Insurance is picking up roughly $12,000 of the cost.

The board also agreed to purchase a used unmarked car for detectives at a cost not to exceed $15,000.

Money seized in drug investigations is being used.

Also, the board approved the Highway Department’s purchase of a new Chevy pickup truck at a cost not to exceed $27,850. The department has been trying to remove its aging vehicles.

Highway officials have to spend another $7,500 to purchase new radios because a new mandate from the Federal Communications Commission says that municipalities have to use a narrow band.

Also Wednesday, Koetzle swore in Matthew Weise to the position of sergeant.

He is a seven-year veteran of the town Police Department.