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Notes from the Informational
Town Board Meeting held Tuesday, January 8, 2008, at 6:00
PM, at the Keene Town Hall. The following Town Board Members
were present: William B. Ferebee, Supervisor, Paul R. Martin,
Robert M. Biesemeyer, Marcy A. Neville and Lawrence Jaques,
Members of Council. Also present were: approximately 27 residents,
1 resident/Member of the Press, Jen Briggs, Bruce Reed, Highway
Superintendent and Ellen Estes, Town Clerk.
The Chairman, Mr. Ferebee, called the meeting to order at
6:01 PM, explaining that this meeting was scheduled to discuss
the ad valorem tax which appeared on the property tax bills
for Water District #1.
Mr. Ferebee gave a brief update on the events leading to
the need for ad valorem. He said the Water District began
in 1937 as a Benefit District and had been changed by Resolution
in 2005 to an Ad valorem District. He said this tax had amounted
to $2.53 per thousand dollars of assessed value on the property
tax bills for people living in the water district.
Nancy Piserchia asked when the Board knew this water tax
would be present.
Mr. Ferebee said he would take the blame, he said he should
have had a meeting 30 days ago. He said the Board knew this
tax was coming when they adopted the resolution in 2005. He
said that in 2007, the short term financing was turned into
long term financing, which meant that the annual payment would
include payment on the principal. He said the payment due
annually was actually more than the original estimate.
Mrs. Piserchia said it would have been considerate for the
retirees to have let those affected know this was going to
happen.
Mr. Biesemeyer said it had been discussed during public hearings
held throughout the project, he said it’s not reality until
it hits.
Linda Deyo agreed it would have been nice to have had a little
warning. She questioned if it was more rational to tax by
ad valorem on assessed value than to charge a flat fee to
the water district user.
Mr. Martin responded that all taxes are based on assessed
value.
Mr. Martin gave an update saying that the project was begun
due to a mandate by the State regarding the need to filter
surface water or change over to ground water. He explained
the ground water contamination at the former well site due
to salt, saying that this was the beginning of the mounting
debt, beginning with the need for test wells. He said he would
still like to see this situation mitigated. He said loss of
this site forced the district to look for and secure a different
area for wells. He said the Town had also lost a $400,000
hardship grant.
Mrs. Piserchia asked why the grant was lost.
Mr. Martin said he couldn’t recall the exact reason, Mr. Ferebee
said he would look into it and get back to her with an answer.
Katy Purdy asked with this tax based on assessment, if “we”
can be assured that everyone is equally assessed. She also
said that somewhere north of Plattsburgh a Town had put in
individual wells for everyone, she asked if this had been
considered.
Mr. Biesemeyer answered no.
Bud Piserchia again mentioned the burden this tax would put
on the senior citizens. He asked why this debt is not equally
distributed throughout the entire Town.
Mr. Biesemeyer explained that Water District #1 is a special
district meaning that it must pay for itself.
Joe Sawczyn spoke about what would happen in case of a fire
outside the water district saying that the trucks would fill
up at a hydrant in the district to take it outside.
Mr. Biesemeyer explained that if the water district boundary
took in the whole town, then anyone could demand water be
brought to their property.
Alan Carey suggested raising the hydrant rent, which is actually
paid by the taxpayer, to spread out the expense.
Mr. Carey also asked if the tax exempt pay ad valorem.
Hydrant rent was discussed.
Mr. Ferebee answered yes, explaining it is done using the
Assessors calculations.
June Auer asked what happens if someone can’t pay their taxes.
Mr. Biesemeyer said “This isn’t pretty “, he explained that
if someone doesn’t pay the taxes for their property it goes
up for tax sale auction.
Lyman Boynton asked why water rent is paid in September for
water that isn’t used until December. He followed up asking
what was going to be done about his problem with frozen water.
Mr. Ferebee said he was working on that.
Mrs. Piserchia said thank you for sending the man to her
house who took care of the chlorine, she said it has been
high for years.
Mr. Ferebee responded saying that the water is tested in different
locations daily.
Mr. Biesemeyer said that some of the issues discussed here
tonight back up his belief that an Adirondack County should
be formed.
Donna Austin asked if she was correct in understanding that
the ad valorem tax would be paid for the next 29 years along
with water rents.
Mr. Ferebee said there is going to be $14,000 revenue generated
from Verizon when they get their cell phone tower put up on
the water districts property. He said this revenue would go
toward expenses, lowering the water rent.
Mrs. Purdy asked if it takes $475 times the number of users
to operate the district.
Again there was discussion regarding the salt contamination
and who was to blame. Mr. Biesemeyer said that although Brad
Caswell blamed it on the Town salt storage, he said the truth
was it was from the State salting the roads.
Ms. Neville said that this salt issue and finding out who
is the blame is another reason to partner with other Towns.
Mr. Boynton said he is also concerned because assessments
will continue to go up every year.
Mr. Martin responded that the ad valorem may not be as much
next year.
Mr. Ferebee said to close he would like to add that though
the water rent user pays about $1.50 a day for water, 69 gallons
of water is used per day per person.
He also said yes, this tax will have an impact on the user
and said he was sorry they had not been notified sooner.
Mr. Boynton asked about finding grant funding now.
Mr. Ferebee responded that he has been told that it is very
hard to get grants on money that has already been spent. He
went on to say that a representative from Congresswoman Gillibrand’s
office had come to meet with the Town Board and said there
is no money available.
Mr. Ferebee asked if there were any other questions and thanked
those present for coming.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:47 PM.
Ellen S. Estes, Town Clerk
January 10, 2008
William B. Ferebee, Supervisor
Paul R. Martin, Robert M. Biesemeyer, Marcy A. Neville and
Lawrence Jaques, Members of Council
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