Town Board

July 17, 2018

Absent: Councilmen Patel and Roker

1. 2017 audit report

The town’s outside auditor presented the highlights of the 2017 audit. The town’s main fund, the General Fund, has an unassigned fund balance of $7.4 M and an assigned fund balance of $3.4 M. Unassigned means that the money is available for any expense approved by the town board. Because the last agreement with Spectra was approved in July, 2017, $1.5 M of the company’s $3.8M payment to the town will be recorded in 2018. Revenues exceeded budget estimates, due mainly to additional sales tax, mortgage tax, inspection fees, and a FEMA reimbursement for Hurricane Sandy. Actual expenditures were lower for pension payments and social security.

Copies of the audit are available on the town’s web site under the “public documents” link.

2. Celebration for 230th anniversary

A meeting will be held July 26 regarding plans for the August 26gth celebration of the town’s 230th birthday. In addition to a parade, other activities are planned.

3. Courtesy of the Floor

Mohegan Highlands beach permit & refuse issue. A member of the association asked for clarification on two issues: why the town wouldn’t pay for a beach lifeguard until and the association obtained a permit from the county Department of Health and why the town’s garbage/recycling vendor stopped picking refuse at the beach. In response, the homeowner was advised that because of insurance and liability issues, the town could not pay to hire a lifeguard until a permit was issued, which eventually it was. As for the refuse, Supervisor Gilbert explained that last year, the beach associations were notified that because they were not part of the town’s refuse district, the town’s outsider contractor would no longer be picking up refuse at their sites and that they needed to contract for refuse collection on their own.  Some did but others didn’t and this year a reminder letter was sent to those who hadn’t. Ken Belfer, speaking on behalf of MLID, asked if the beach associations could opt in to the refuse district; the town attorney said he would look into the issue. 

Unpaid taxes. Susan Siegel, the person writing this summary, asked the board to delay voting on stormwater permit for plans to build a single family house on three combined lots the applicant purchased for $11,000 from the town in 2015 until the board could check whether the owner had paid about $35,000 in unpaid taxes. In response, Supervisor Gilbert said that the town did not have a law that would enable it to delay approving the permit and later in the evening the board voted to grant the permit.

4. Appointments

Sunitha Howard was appointed to the Library Board of Trustees.

5. Miscellaneous resolutions

Economic and Business Revitalization Committee. The resolution amended the number of committee members and their terms in the 2/20/18 resolution that created the committee. The committee will now consist of nine members, seven of which will be appointed by the Town Board with the remaining two members represented by the Chamber of Commerce and the Yorktown Small Business Association.

Fluoridation: The board authorized the supervisor to sign an agreement with Arcadis of New York in the amount of $209,000 to design a new fluoridation system for the town’s Catskill water supply.

Library: Authorized a budget transfer of $34,100 from the library’s fund balance to pay for the repair of the building’s air conditioning system.

Granite Knolls Sports Complex. Authorized an additional expenditure of $38,169 for the installation of the water main.