Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB-11/15/2016 ELIZABETH A.NEVILLE OSUFF04 Town Hall, 53095 Main Road TOWN CLERK PO Box 1179 Southold,NY 11971 REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS o Fax(631)765-6145 MARRIAGE OFFICER y�o! �a�! Telephone: (631)765 - 1800 RECORDS MANAGEMENT OFFICER southoldtown.northfork.net FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICER OFFICE OF THE TOWN CLERK SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD SPECIAL MEETING November 15, 2016 7:30 PM A Special Meeting of the Southold Town Board was held Tuesday,November 15', 2016 at the Meeting Hall, Southold,NY. I. Call to Order 7:30 PM Meeting called to order on November 15, 2016 at Meeting Hall, 53095 Route 25, Southold,NY. Attendee Name Organization Title Status Arrived James Dinizio Jr Town of Southold Councilman Present William P. Ruland Town of Southold Councilman Present Jill Doherty Town of Southold Councilwoman Present Robert Ghosio Town of Southold Councilman Present Louisa P. Evans Town of Southold Justice Absent Scott A. Russell Town of Southold Supervisor Present II. Public Portion Pledge to the Flag Opening Comments Supervisor Russell SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Please rise and join in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. I am going to offer anybody that wants an opportunity to comment on the budget at this time? Pete? Peter Harris, Greenport PETER HARRIS: Good evening, everyone. Peter Harris, Greenport. The question is, what is the final amount that you're budgeting for paving for 2017? SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: The general allocation, the appropriation, will be $1 million for the asphalt line, $422,000 for the CHIPS money and there is a $1 million capital bond set to the side that we can execute sometime in the new year if we need to. Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 2 MR. HARRIS: You said $422 for CHIPS? SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Yes. MR. HARRIS: The presentation that the Superintendent of Highways had given you a month ago with the four year plan, is that, are we looking at a tax increase for the next four years? SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Well, he came up with a plan that certainly estimates some costs. I think that it's unrealistic to think that can be done over three or four years in any scenario. Massive tax increases or not. I think the Town Board is looking for something of more of a long term plan with priorities established in each year over the next five, six, seven, maybe even ten years. But obviously we can't keep raising taxes like this each year, so no. MR. HARRIS: Okay, the reason why I ask that and this is in all due respect for everyone sitting up on that dais, there's no one up there that's an expert on paving. Just like I am not an expert on security systems or farming or plumbing supply or Supervisor, you are the supervisor. In past settings of, I think a large part of the problem of where we are today is that we as a town, we never budgeted enough money to repair our roads. Every time when you were putting a budget together, we were trying to come in at either no increase, you know, so the fact that when budgets were being prepared, first the budget goes to the supervisor, then the department heads sit down with the Board and the red pen comes out and starts going through and we cut and I understand when you have to cut but I think the roads of Southold Town, which is a very important part of Southold Town's infrastructure as well as their buildings and parks and'what have you, the road system was always run on the cheap when it came to being restored and I understand that and I sat and watched the last Town Board meeting and there were people here questioning you about you know, not raising taxes and what have you and it got to be talking about paving and paving practices and the product Jim, that you happened to be talking to a lady about proper name is called micro-resurfacing. That's the stuff that comes out in a liquid slurry and then it's spread out and it dries. That particular product, you use that product on a road that you have a sound road bed but that the road itself needs to be resurfaced, you can use that. and you have a, it's a five or six year lifespan compared to hot asphalt where you would use on your main thoroughfares or on your roads that are just crumbling or falling apart and that's the only way you can heal them is by using hot asphalt, so as much as I hate as a taxpayer see my taxes go up, I understand why they have to go up and I am glad that we are finally taking that step forward. However, I will also say, I kind of went over that four year plan, there's roads on that plan to be resurfaced that were done three years ago and I know for a fact that they don't need to be done the first year. So we need to address what's bad right off the getgo and do as much to fix as much as we can the first year because again, the way I read it, it came out to $8 million was the superintendent's plan. I understand where he is coming from but I know in my heart there's no way this Town Board is going to give him $8 million in the next four years. I just know it's not going to happen. So it needs to, that plan needs to be gone over with a fine tooth comb and you may have a road that I paved four years ago or five years ago and there might be a 50 foot section on a three quarter mile road that for whatever reason is bad. You go and you fix that little spot because the rest of that pavement is still good. You don't go and repave the whole road just because that one little section might be bad because then you can take the rest of the Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 3 money that you might be spending on that road and you can go use it someplace else. But I thank you for the information pertaining to that because I wasn't sure how much we were getting from CHIPS and if that was being incorporated into the budget. I have a question and I know it's the budget hearing but, we are being taped right now and do you know for any reason why we can't DVR the Town Board meetings anymore? SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: I was unaware you couldn't. I will defer to... MR. HARRIS: I called Cablevision yesterday and I was on the phone for probably a half an hour with the gentleman. Because I will tell you, if you go and you hit record, it says government channel content cannot be recorded. That's what it says. And he said, and it's not, that's not being done by Cablevision. It's being done by whoever's municipality that the Board meeting is having. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: That is totally untrue because we have no way of doing anything like that. We just transmit it. Get ahold of me tomorrow, Pete. I will call you, I will call them. MR. HARRIS: He said it may be a minor oversight by the local municipality. I just know for years you were able to tape, as a matter of fact, I tried to, I couldn't come to the budget hearing, so I said to my wife do me a favor. Tape the meeting so I can watch it later. I got home that night, she says I couldn't tape it. She says it won't let me tape. So then I got on when it came on at 7:00 and it did the exact same thing. They said, I am just telling you Jim, Cablevision said it's on this end. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: Well, like I said, we have no way of doing that. MR. HARRIS: Okay. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: They have a way of doing it, they have a way of controlling what your DVR can record and can't record. They have a way not us. But I will give Joan Gilroy a call tomorrow and if you have who you spoke to, I would like to give that name. MR. HARRIS: Then gentleman didn't give me his name, he was just like a technician or something. Because he was having me do all.... COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: I will give Joan Gilroy a call and we'll find out why that is. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: I was going to say, Pete, you are the only person in all of Southold Town that actually wants to tape channel 22. But I will say we would have no reason to block it, in fact, you can go on the Town's website and watch it at will. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: Yes, you can. MR. HARRIS: And I have to tell you, I was here at 4:30 this afternoon because on channel 22 that's what time it said the budget meeting was supposed to be at 4:30 this afternoon. Me and Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 4 the fuel man were at the front door at 4:30 because he was trying to put the slip through the door for the fuel delivery. But, thank you. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: There was a little confusion. Pete, I just want to comment on that plan that we got from the highway superintendent, in all honesty, it's woefully inadequate for what I hope to do which is learn just what condition roads are in. Our proposal or his proposal, that four year plan, only proposes to do 66 miles of our roads for$2 million a year. I mean, what do we do about all this micro-surfacing stuff, all the ancillary roads, are they still good? I have no idea. Are they bad? When was the last time they did them? Those are the kind of things I want to get the highway superintendent to tell us, you know, yes in the past we never had a plan because they used to do what they did but me personally, I want to get on the fact that the roads are no different than painting your building. The roads are our possession, we own them. We have owned them forever and it's not something that's you know, fleeting. It's always there and so we should be planning for it year to year. And we should know what roads. Good, if the roads are lasting a little bit longer, then fine but we should at least be budgeting for them. Some years it might be $2 million, I don't know. MR. HARRIS: Well, Jim, with all due respect, we have 200 miles of road and it's 400 lane miles, okay? So again, like I said before, I mean, this year it's $1 million plus but I went through many years of$200,000 or$250,000 okay, that's what the town budgeted and then throw in what we had from CHIPS and in today's economy, that doesn't go very far. So you take, you take a couple of roads that are real bad and you use the asphalt. And the other roads that the road bed is still good, you use the micro. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: Well, what I am trying to say to you is, that plan doesn't include any of the other stuff, any of the other micro, it doesn't include that. The money is based on those roads, by footage, did you get to see it? I can show it to you tomorrow, it gives everything, you know how wide the road is, how much surface you have got to cover, some leveling stuff... MR. HARRIS: Any time that I scheduled to pave roads when I was in office, Jim, I personally went out with a measuring wheel and I would walk the entire road. I would take cross width measurements so I knew within a very small amount,just exactly how much that road was going to cost me. Okay? I didn't just take a book and say, oh okay, Boisseau Avenue is this many feet long and this is how much this is going to cost me. I physically walked the road and took the measurements. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: So is there a book somewhere that has all of that information in it like the last time you paved or.... MR. HARRIS: There is literature with every road,the footage, the length of each road. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: Well, how about when the last time it was paved? MR. HARRIS: Jim, that, I don't know. Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 5 COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: Well, that's what I am looking for. MR. HARRIS: That I don't know. COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: I want to start that, I want to continue that. So that we don't get into the problem where we, this year we ran into a pretty big problem and we spent more money than we had anticipated and the reason was because we were kind of hunting and pecking here, just trying to figure it out. I don't want to make the same mistake again. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: I will tell you, actually, the way we set up the asphalt lines this year, we actually set it all up as a capital project, so the money, basically the Town Board is going to be looking at certain criteria and I think the highway superintendent gave us a plan so that we would at least have a basis for budgeting but obviously, Jim and others say let's give, let's see some more detail as we move forward and the money gets spent after the Town Board is presented with that plan, it can't just be spent without us looking at it. That way we can answer the questions. Maybe look to the highway superintendent and others as to what the priorities should be. COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY: I would like to work toward like Jim says, a comprehensive list, maybe on Excel or a spread sheet or whatever the easiest way to do it and have every single road on that list and then have categories of when it was paved last and just start that history, so then we know in the future, we can easily do a budget of okay, this was done and this was done... MR. HARRIS: One of the biggest problems we have in this town is that so many of our roads were farm roads. I mean, basically they stripped the top soil off the top, they would put down oil and sand or oil and stone and you may, over the course of a day, you may get 100 vehicles that would drive it whereas today, it's 10,000 cars could be going on that road today. And you know, you have just got heavy vehicles, heavy construction vehicles because you are building mega mansions up on the sound bluff and they have got to go down these potato roads from years ago and they just can't handle the weight of the vehicles, especially at certain times of the year when it's a little punky under there. COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY: And then you have the water authority coming in, the gas lines, mother nature, it's hard. MR. HARRIS: This is true. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: We had to explain to Bill here that the budget this year was for asphalt not oyster shells. MR. HARRIS: They made a good road bed back in the day. Back in the day they made a great road. Between oyster shells and coal cinders, they made, that was great road bed construction material but again, thank you very much for the information. Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 6 SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Thanks, Pete. II1. Resolutions 2016-1011 CATEGOR K Budget DEPARTMENT. Town Clerk Adopt Annual Capital Budget for the Fiscal Year Beginning on the 1St January 2017 WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Southold has met at the time and place specified in the notice of public hearings on the Preliminary Capital Budget for the fiscal year beginning on January 1, 2017, and heard all persons desiring to be heard thereon, now,therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold does hereby adopt such Preliminary Capital Budget, as amended, as the Annual Capital Budget of this Town for the fiscal year beginning on the 1"January 2017; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that such capital budget as adopted by this Board be entered in detail in the minutes of the proceedings of this Town Board; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town Clerk of the Town of Southold shall prepare and certify copies of said annual Capital Budget as adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Southold, together with the estimates, if any, adopted pursuant to Section 202a, Subdivision 5 of the Town Law, and deliver a copy thereof to the County Legislature of the County of Suffolk. ✓Vote Record-Resolution RES-2016-1011 0 Adopted ❑ Adopted as Amended ❑ Defeated Yes/Aye No/Nay Abstain Absent ❑ Tabled James Dinizio Jr Mover 0 ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ Withdrawn ❑ Supervisor's Appt William P.Roland Seconder` Q ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ Tax Receiver's Appt Jill Doherty Voter Q ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ Rescinded Robert Ghosio Voter ❑ 0 ❑ ❑ ❑ Town Clerk's Appt Louisa P Evans Voter ❑ ❑ ❑ R1 ❑ Supt Hgwys Appt Scott A.Russell Voter R1 ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ No Action ❑ Lost Comments regarding resolution 1011 COUNCILMAN RULAND: This has been, I have been on the Town Board nine years,this has been one of the most difficult budgets that we've dealt with. There has been a lot of hours put in, there's been things looked at and re-looked at. I do concur with Councilman Dinizio and your remarks, Pete, are certainly welcome. We were having a discussion previously whether we have Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 7 the plan that was submitted to us or whether we alter the plan. We can't do anything unless we have an appropriation in place. We don't have an appropriation, we can't do anything. And as Jim said and I concur, there is going to be more work done and if we don't have the appropriation in place, we can't serve the needs of the people when the time comes. And it is difficult because it has come on top of some historic increases in categories as well. All that said, I think in my mind, it is in the best interest of the Town of Southold that we adopt this and I vote aye. COUNCILMAN GHOSIO: Before I cast my vote, I would just like to say that I do agree with Councilman Ruland that an awful lot of work has gone into this. It is a year where we find ourselves having to raise taxes more than perhaps we would like to and if those who know what the process is,this doesn't happen over the course of a few days, this takes months to do and it is something that takes place every year. In that process,there is an awful lot of discussion, sometimes debate, you have got folks that work for the town, department heads who have a vested interest in their departments budgets who come and ask for a certain amount of money each year to do certain amounts of things that need to get done in their department. There's usually, not usually, there's always a give and take and unfortunately while we have been very good at being fiscally responsible and we haven't raised taxes certainly higher than the tax cap the last few years and we take pride in that, I think this year it was anticipated and I understood that we would break the cap this year, I believe the cap that we went with this year would have been less than 1 percent which isn't realistic when you consider some of the fixed costs and the increases we saw with them. That being said though, you know, I am very sensitive to the folks in town who are going to be hurt by this. A 7 1/2 percent increase is going to be something that they may have to struggle with and we did see that with some of the comments that we got at the hearing, so in that regard, you know, I don't necessarily have all the answers or the specifics of how we could have saved but I am very sensitive to the folks that are going to be hurt by us raising taxes as much as we have to this year, so I am voting no. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: I am just going to say that I can appreciate Mr. Ghosio's vote, certainly the reluctance of this entire Board. You know, we were faced with a couple of issues and I have got to say that the idea of complying with the tax cap each and every year is something farfetched, it just can't happen. Southold Town needed to bite a bullet and we have a dire set of circumstances after the result of a couple of very bad winters. The phone calls I get about road conditions has eclipsed helicopters, deer, speeding combined. The public wants us to get something done. That takes money. Couple that with substantial increases in our medical costs over the last two years, so we rolled over from a self-funded medical plan to NYSHIP, New York State's medical plan a few years ago. We saw some pretty substantial savings. Costs in those days about two years ago was about$5.1 million. It is now $6.3 million in just a few short years. I do not, I still think we did the right thing by rolling over, that's more typical of the costs of medical coverage these days whether you are self-insured or not but again, to try to make headway into an issue that needs immediate attention, the alternative would simply be to raise taxes a little bit each year and probably have to pierce the cap a little bit each year and I don't think that serves anybody any purpose. If we are going to do it, let's do it now, let's do it all at once which is why I am voting yes. 2016-1012 Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 8 CATEGORY Y. Budget DEPARTMENT. Town Clerk Adopt 2017 Annual Budget WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Southold has met at the time and place specified in the notice of public hearings on the Preliminary Budget for the fiscal year beginning on January 1, 2017, and heard all persons desiring to be heard thereon; now,therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold does hereby adopt such Preliminary Bud;et as the Annual Budget as Amended of this Town for the fiscal year beginning on the 1" day of January 2017; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that such budget as adopted by this Board be entered in detail in the minutes of the proceedings of this Town Board; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town Clerk of the Town of Southold shall prepare and certify copies of said annual budget as adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Southold, together with the estimates, if any, adopted pursuant to Section 202a, Subdivision 5 of the Town Law, and deliver a copy thereof to the County Legislature of the County of Suffolk. ✓Vote Record-Resolution RES-2016-1012 0 Adopted ❑ Adopted as Amended ❑ Defeated —---- - -- — -- — - -- - - Yes/Aye No/Nay Abstain Absent ❑ Tabled _ _ _ _ ❑ Withdrawn James Dmizio Jr Voter 0 Cl ❑ ❑ ❑ Supervisor's Appt William P.Ruland Seconder 0 ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ Tax Receiver's Appt Jill Doherty Mover 0 ❑ El ❑ Rescinded Robert Ghosio Voter ❑ 0 ❑ ❑ ❑ Town Clerk's Appt Louisa P.Evans Voter ❑ ❑ ❑ 0 ❑ Supt Hgwys Appt Scott A Russell Voter 0 ❑ ❑ i ❑ ❑ No Action ❑ Lost Comments regarding resolutions 1012 COUNCILMAN DINIZIO: First I want to say because I think this is the budget that we are having trouble with, Scott and John Cushman just did a wonderful job guiding at least me through the process of budgeting and I have been working on this, my third one. I basically hemmed and hawed all day over this, Scott will know, he saw me online. It is difficult, I get it. I just think that these, limiting ourselves to 2%, trying to meet that goal every year, we kind of lost sight of basic things that need to be done. Roads were one. It is very easy to say, let's move it to another year, we averaged about $200,000 to $350,000 a year for the past few years and that just maintained the roads. We need to take a bigger bite out of it and it's a huge chunk. The medical Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 9 insurance, health insurance, is going to go up and it's going to keep going up. You know, this year we got a room for the dispatchers,they work in there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Christmas, holidays. Every day, that room has somebody in it and it needed to be upgraded to today's standards. That's getting done and also, we are replacing our radios, upgrading our hand- held radios for our police officers because quite honestly, I can't ask these young men and women to go out onto the streets every day and not have an adequate system to communicate. Again, I believe that that was part of the same kind of worrying about how much you are going to spend and it was complacency on the part of just about everyone involved concerning the operation of hand-held radios in this town. And I think we have got a handle on that. It's $400,000 that we have got to spend. Now that money comes from somewhere else, it really doesn't come from the budget but it still,that money could be spent elsewhere, you know, for (inaudible) for the cars, for the radios and computer, laptops that go in the car but it's still money but I think we are, in the end of it,the spending that we are doing is going to help us in the town and I know I want to keep my officers as safe as I possibly can. Next year we have to deal with some kind of resolution to the court and that's going to be another thing to look forward to and I am certainly votign yes because I believe in all of this and I am sorry that it's got to be almost 8 %but you know, we are a victim of a certain spending practices that was more or less forced on us by a state that doesn't take into consideration things move on. One thing I want to announce, next year you are not going to get your rebate, your$150-$200 is gone because of the actions we are taking tonight but there is a good side to that and that is what I thought about all day. If we do 8 %this year,the number that we get to spend next year is more, the cap goes up because we spent money this year. So goody, goody, we get to spend more of your taxpayers money okay, and say that we are giving you a cut. I just wanted to point that out to you guys and I am voting yes. COUNCILWOMAN DOHERTY: What Jim said,he explained a lot of that, it's a budget for a reason because we are balancing your budgeting. It comes to a point where it just comes to the safety of the people that live in this town, the roads, we keep like Pete said, you just keep cutting that red line on the roads and they get to this point and it comes with now we have to bring the money up and spend the money on the safety of the roads and the radios for our police officers and it's not easy spending that money but when you think about those safety issues, in my mind it's a must do. So yes, I am voting yes. COUNCILMAN RULAND: My remarks will be the same for the operating budget as for the capital budget but I would also like to say I know the amount of time that I have spent on this and I didn't start on it in August. And again, I would say to the Supervisor, who is the Chief Financial Officer of this Town that you have done a yeoman's job to pull all those threads together to have presented us with a document that we were able to work with, both with you and the department heads to come to wh ere we are tonight and that said, I vote aye. COUNCILMAN GHOSIO: I too, do appreciate the work that went into this and it is very difficult and I appreciate what Scott and John Cushman and the department heads and what this Town`Board has done over the course of the last few months to deal with some real important issues in how we are going to better our infrastructure while keeping a manageable budget but again, like I said in my remarks for the first resolution on the capital budget, I just know that Southold Town Board Special Meeting November 15, 2016 page 10 there are a lot of folks that are going to hurt because of the rise in taxes, so once again, I am voting no. SUPERVISOR RUSSELL: Sure, I just want to,just so there's a public understanding of the rebate you get from New York State, actually because Southold hasn't complied with it's portion of the overall portion of the consolidated budget, you wouldn't be eligible to the rebate for the portion that's attributable to the town, not the whole check. Each taxing district is required to comply with the cap and for the districts that don't, the rebate would be reduced to what would be the apportioned amount attributable to the town. At any rate, I will vote yes. Motion To: Adjourn Town Board Meeting RESOLVED that this meeting of the Southold Town Board be and hereby is declared adjourned at 8:03 P.M. L Lynda M Rudder Southold Deputy Town Clerk RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: William P. Ruland, Councilman SECONDER:James Dinizio Jr, Councilman AYES: Dinizio Jr, Ruland, Doherty, Ghosio, Russell ABSENT: Louisa P. Evans