To the Editor:

We write in response to Mark Grimm’s letter [“Town’s fee system is an extraordinary intrusion into residents’ everyday lives,” The Altamont Enterprise, January 9, 2025].  Mr. Grimm is misinformed or forgetful.

Nearly all of the fees faulted by Mr. Grimm date back to when he was on the Guilderland Town Board (2008-11), were not changed in the revised fee schedule (less than 10 percent of fees were amended), and more often involve state mandates that local governments must enforce.  

There is no fee “to have a small block party.”  If your “small block party” takes place in neighbors’ backyards, no permit is required. But if you want to expand beyond a small gathering and close down part of a public road, the highway superintendent will review your request, and, if approved, place safety cones and saw horses on both ends of the closed road.

The Town Dispatcher Unit considers the road closure and its impact when summoning police, fire, and ambulance units. That fee ($25) was not changed. 

There is no fee for “adopting a dog.” Most adoptions take place in kennels and private arrangements, with no fee charged by the town. The town’s animal shelter, which cares for unwanted or abandoned dogs, has a handful of adoptions each year, and charges a fee for the cost of state-mandated licensing, rabies vaccinations, veterinarian fees, and loving 24-hour care. That fee ($75) is also long-standing, and was not changed.

The fee for “bingo games to raise money for a good cause” is the State Gaming Commission’s long-standing charge and is collected by local governments. That fee ($18.75), set by State Gaming decades ago, was not changed.

There is no fee to fix “your home’s broken window.” The State Uniform Fire and Building Code, not the town code, requires a building permit for windows only if there is an “alteration” of the building.  No fee is charged to repair “broken” windows, damaged roofs, etc. because no building permit is required.  

There is a fee when a window project “alters” the building and requires a permit under the state code.  The revised fee ($75) is a fixed fee regardless of the project’s total cost or the number of windows installed. 

The state code also requires permits for electric vehicle chargers, solar installations, and underground sprinklers. The old fee schedule imposed a fee based on the total costs for these installations by charging $50 for the first $1,000 and $8 for each additional $1,000 of cost or fraction.

This total cost-based fee schedule was replaced by fixed fees for EV chargers ($100) and solar installations ($300). The fee for the permit for an underground residential water sprinkler ($300) was not changed.   

The revised fees, which is often lower than the old fees, cover the building inspector’s post-construction inspection required by the state code to ensure that altered window openings do not restrict emergency exits and satisfy new state energy code requirements; that EV chargers and solar installations meet electrical code requirements to avoid overloading circuit breakers and creating fire hazards; and that the contractor has adequate premises, liability, and workers’ compensation insurances. 

These and other inspections protect homeowners from unscrupulous contactors or shoddy non-compliant work.  

These state mandates promote public safety, and the town’s enforcement of these protective measures is neither an “extraordinary intrusion” nor “heavy hand of government.”  Mr. Grimm owes an apology to the town employees who are required to enforce these state safety requirements.  

Peter G. Barber

Town Supervisor

Lynne Buchanan

Town Clerk

Bob Haver

Highway Superintendent

Jackie Coons

Chief Building and Fire Inspector