TOWN BOARD BUDGET, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, OCTOBER 2, 2018
The town board budget meeting of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on Oct. 2, 2018 at 6:00pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilman Jim Jennings, Councilman Dominick Cambareri and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 6:15pm. Town Clerk noted the public notice was available on the desk for anyone who wants to see it.
Audience: M. Horzepa, L. Davoren, R. Davoren, C. Furman.
Supervisor Volpe opened the budget meeting starting with General A. He went line by line and showed/explained to the board the changes he made from last meeting. He explained he would like to add 1 hour per week/52 hours/year for Assessor office for a data collector (Cory Baker). He explained the equipment (.2) reduction of the police budget. He explained the change in Supt. of Highway budget line for the deputy highway supt. position. He will still leave it in the budget but eliminate the $2,000 that was allocated for it. When Dean isn’t here Bobby Wickham will still be paid his regular salary to do it. He explained the revenues part of General A. Adjustments that were made still reflect a decrease. Councilman Carey asks what consists of the buildings account. Supervisor explained: smart thermostats, water, paper, toilet paper, air dryers, cleaning supplies etc.
Supervisor Volpe explained the General B portion of budget. He referred to talking about budgeting $2,000 for a possible per diem building inspector to help clean up the some of the stuff (older permits). He suggests leaving the $2,000 for a per diem clerk. He spoke to Matt about that. He reviewed the revenues of General B.
Supervisor Volpe explained the Highway portion of the budget. He went line by line. He reviewed the revenues part of highway budget.
Supervisor Volpe explained the fire protection budget. The village budget is different from the town budget.
He explained Howells fire district budget.
He went over the public library line on the budget – these are houses in Pine Bush that are part of the Catskill Ramapo system.
He went over the Sewer portion of the budget and the interest & earnings. Councilman Howell asked if we should add $100 to the contingency line. Last year this line was put in. It’s a small step – we started with $1,000 –it’s a small step going forward. Councilman Cambareri: Any improvement we do is gonna be minimal in the tens of thousands of dollars so Matt’s idea was to get a little fund built up so it would offset their tax increase. Luckily this last mandate we had done we had covered under 3 grants. Supervisor would be willing to move the contingency up a hundred or 2 and moving the contractual down the same so budget stays the same. Councilman Cambareri added that the next expense we have to make is to buy a spare pump because when we run into a situation where we go down to one pump and this year something did happen then we have a back flow – then we’re in trouble. Supervisor had everyone change their copies by $1200 for SS1990.4 and then SS8130.4 change to $58,800. He spoke of the hook-up fees we’ll get for the new houses going in.
Councilman Carey asked how much the library cards cost. Town Clerk/Supervisor explained we get billed in lots of 25 for the cards. It costs the town $75 per card.
Supervisor would like to schedule a public hearing. Discussion on dates and advertising for the public hearing.
MOTION TO SCHEDULE PUBLIC HEARING FOR 2019 PRELIMINARY BUDGET:
MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Carey to schedule the 2019 Preliminary Budget public hearing on October 29, 2018 at 7:30pm at the town hall meeting room. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
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MOTION TO AMEND PRIOR MOTION TO SCHEDULE PUBLIC HEARING FOR 2019 PRELIMINARY BUDGET:
MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Carey to amend the prior motion as follows: to schedule the 2019 Preliminary Budget public hearing on October 29, 2018 at 7:30pm at the town hall meeting room and hold a board meeting immediately after the public hearing. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: Greater Hudson Bank coming to speak with him. The interest rates they are offering are 4X what we are already getting. He’s waiting to hear from Orange Bank & Trust to see what they come back with.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 7:25pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 15, 2018 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk
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