Town Board Minutes

CLERMONT TOWN BOARD

OCTOBER 7, 2013

 

The Clermont Town Board held its regular meeting on Monday, October 7, 2013 at 7:00 P.M. at the Town Hall. Those in attendance were Supervisor Raymond Staats, Councilwoman Nancy Moore, Councilman Edward Kahle and Councilman Evan Hempel and Councilman Robert Desmond. There were seven residents present.

Supervisor Staats opened the meeting with a salute to the flag.

Supervisor Staats introduced Bob Jacobs of NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Office of Real Property Tax Service to discuss the STAR Program and the Reevaluation of properties. Cheryl Kaszluga, Clermont’s new assessor was also present.

The reassessment of properties will take affect on school tax bills in September of 2014 and Town and County taxes on January l, 2015. A reassessment maintains uniformity in the town. Assessments are based on the value of the property, using a model based on sales to determine the value of the property. In November, the Assessor will send out a data mailer. This will give the particulars of the property to the owner who can then contact the Assessor if there are any major differences in square footage, number of bedrooms, additions, etc. In March, change of assessment notices will go out with the assessed value what has been determined during the data collection. Notices will go out to all property owners, as to whether the assessment went up, down or stayed the same. The town is not required to send out a disclosure notice because we have been at 100%.

Residents will have an opportunity to discuss the assessment with the Assessor if they feel that it is not a reasonable assessment. There are several avenues that a resident can use to request a change in assessment. The Assessor can stipulate a change, a grievance can be filed on Grievance Day, they can file a small claims or SCAR or go to the Supreme Court. Supervisor Staats commended Henry Greenhouse and Cheryl Kaszluga on the work they have done.

The Star Registration Program is legislation that requires all homeowners receiving the Basic Star exemption to register with the Tax department either online or by telephone. The deadline is December 31, 2013 to apply. On March 1st the final notification will go to the Assessor to remove any basic stars which have not been registered.

MINUTES: A motion was made to approve the minutes of the September meeting by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilwoman Moore. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made to approve the minutes of the budget workshop held on September 23rd by Councilman Hempel, seconded by Councilwoman Moore. All in favor. So carried.

TOWN CLERK’S REPORT: The Clerk read the September report and presented a check to the Supervisor for $211.40 for the General Fund. A motion was made to approve the Clerk’s report by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Kahle. All in favor. So carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:

  • The Supervisor gave the Town Board members the budget and revenue report for the period ending September 30, 2013.
  • Columbia County Office for the Aging Newsletter for fall 2013.
  • Councilman Hempel said that he has been getting emails offering to sell the Town –clermontny.com, which we are not interested in.

COMMITTEE REPORT:

  • Supervisor Staats reported that the Hover Fund would be awarding $5000.00 to the Town for the park. Supervisor Staats thanked Councilman Kahle, Mary Howard for their work on the grant and to Hank Himelright for helping out. Councilman Kahle and Mary Howard have been discussing grants through the state, but they are very difficult to apply for these funds. They are looking to get grants from other local sources. They are contemplating seeking to partner with a 501C3 organization, in which we would get the funds and they get the credit.
  • There will be a special meeting on October 21st at 7:00 P.M. to discuss the park plans and review the final budget numbers.
  • Councilman Desmond said that the Highway Superintendent did do the parking area at the ballfield with Item #4. There has been someone tearing up the parking lot, but it has been raked out since. This will be looked into. The rest of the approved work was not done, because it may have to be bid out because of the total project amount.
  • Andy Howard is trying to get the easement on the Hettling property.

OLD BUSINESS:

  • BRIDGE UPDATE: Supervisor Staats has not been able to schedule a meeting with DPW Commissioner, Engineer and the Livingston Supervisor on the Mill Road Bridge.
  • DATA COLLECTION: The data collection, as far as getting pictures and data on all the properties is done and just has to be entered into the computer.
  • AUDIT: The auditor will send the draft of the audit. He was sick and unable to finalize the report.

NEW BUSINESS:

  • BUDGET WORKSHOP: There was a budget workshop last month and another one is scheduled for October 21st at 7:00 P.M. The budget has been reduced by about $12,000.00. A 3% raise was given to most employees.
  • MORTGAGE TAX REVENUE: The second payment should be approximately $34,000. Sales tax revenue is on target for the year.
  • STAR EXEMPTIONS: It is very important that people apply for their star exemptions, as was mentioned earlier.

SUPERVISOR REPORT:

  • The painting for the Community House has been completed. The cost for the second coat was $650.00. Next year we will paint the other three sides.
  • The Village Green Election Day dinner will be held at the Community House from 5 PM to 7 PM.
  • COURTHOUSE PROJECT: The project is 60-70% complete and should be done in January.
  • PINE HAVEN HOME: No new update, the project is still moving forward. They may change the site to be closer to the existing home. This would cut costs on site development.
  • ROADS AND BRIDGES: The County is trying to layout the road and bridge work over a twenty year period because to repair or replace all the bridges and roads is over $100,000,000.00. In the past several years, the road and bridges account has been reduced and they are now trying to increase the budget each year to get the roads and bridges done.
  • HEALTH DEPARTMENT: The Supervisor is hoping to have the positions eliminated in the Health Department for the CHHA department, which is being sold to an outside vendor.
  • DAMAGE AT PARK: The Supervisor asked anyone who knows anything or sees anything going on at the park to let someone know.

ABSTRACTS:

A motion was made by Councilman Desmond to pay the Highway abstract #10, vouchers #96 to #108 in the amount of 12,358.90, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Kahle to pay the General abstract #10, vouchers #246 to #272 in the amount of $11,353.36, seconded by Councilman Desmond. All in favor. So carried.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

Neal Hegeman, Route 9G: Mr. Hegeman said he had a bull attacked by a mountain lion on his property. He had to sell off his cows because they stopped eating and got sick. He believes this is a dangerous animal. He does not want to talk to the DEC because he believes they will not help. He would like the town to contact the County because DEC has not helped with the situation.

The public hearing for the budget will be held on November 4th at 6:30 P.M. prior to the town board meeting.

 

A motion was made to adjourn at 8:35 P.M. by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Kahle.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Helen Shannon, RMC

Town Clerk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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