BERNE — Supervisor Joseph Giebelhaus said he plans to reach out to Albany County to see if the county will “take the lead” in helping the Helderberg Lake Community Association to form a tax district so lake residents could pay for needed repairs on the dam that had been built to form the lake a century ago.

“We do not have the bandwidth,” Giebelhaus said of the town.

George McHugh, the town’s attorney, said that the issue was larger than the 60 households in the lake association. 

“It’s a regional issue,” he said, noting that, if the dam failed, New Scotland and Coeymans could be flooded.

Referencing the county executive, McHugh quipped to Giebelhaus, “You’re gonna hold Danny McCoy and I’m gonna punch him.” 

County spokeswoman Mary Rozak told The Enterprise on March 13, “We have not heard anything from the board or the supervisor and it isn’t appropriate to comment any further.”

In 2017, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation declared that the dam was “unsound” because of cracks in the concrete and an uneven spillway crest.

The Helderberg Lake dam is a high-hazard dam, meaning its failure could result in widespread damage to homes and roads or cause substantial environmental damage or loss of human life.

In 2021, the Helderberg Lake Community Association submitted a petition to the town of Berne, signed by 52 out of 73 of the proposed district property owners, to create a tax district so that residents would pay the town back for the $445,000 repair costs for over 30 years at 4-percent interest.

In April 2022, the town board unanimously rejected the association’s proposal to create a tax district to fund dam repairs. The DEC extended the dam repair permit held by the Helderberg Lake Community Association, which had an original deadline of October 2023, until March 2026.

At last month’s board meeting, Giebelhaus read a letter from the president of the Helderberg Lake Community Association who wrote that the association and its recently created sister organization, the Helderberg Lake Restoration Corporation, want to work collaboratively with the town board to secure funding.

On March 11, Giebelhaus said he had researched the issue and met with the lake association.

He noted that the dam is privately held and said, “The town should not own that asset.”

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation oversees the dam and, for enforcement, Giebelhaus said, “They will lean on us,” either for demolition or replacement.

Giebelhaus likened the situation to one his family faced with property it owned on Lake Luzerne. The lake association asked the town for a special tax district for financing, he said, a practice he called “very common.” A capital-improvement district was set up.

“That means there’s a sunset clause,” Giebelhaus said, explaining that, once the project was complete and paid for, the district no longer existed.

For Berne, Giebelhaus said, “There is one thing we need to be aware of … If the dam is gone … we’ll have to re-evaluate for tax purposes.” He noted that 60 homes with “swamp-front property” would not be as valuable as those homes now with lakefront property.

He said the DEC and the lake association are monitoring the situation and stressed, “We don’t have any liability at all.”

He also said, “If the town board does create a tax district … it is run as a town-construction project.” Anyone benefiting from the project would be responsible for paying for it.

“The owners of the dam understand that,” Giebelhaus said.

The cost for the project has tripled since the lake association first came to the town five years ago, seeking a district. The latest estimate is $1.3 million, said Giebelhaus.

He said that the lake association is “in line for a state grant covering 75-percent of the cost.”

Other business

In other business at its March 11 meeting, the Berne Town Board:

— Heard a complaint from Ronald Jordan about a three-bay garage with 30 to 40 vehicles on site at the top of Cass Hill Road. Jordan said that, when he chaired the town’s zoning board of appeals, two residents looking to open a garage “went about it the right way” and they were denied. He asked that the town’s code be enforced;

— Heard from resident Lynn Kerr that there is a new sign on Route 443 at the Berne town line that says “Town of West Berne.”

“It must be a prank,” said Councilman Brian Bunzey.

Kerr noted that West Berne is a hamlet in the town of Berne and said she brought it to the board because she didn’t know who was responsible.

Giebelhaus said he’d learned as a manager, “Whoever’s not here, you blame it on them.”

Councilman Scott Duncan said a permit would have been needed for the sign and he would look into it;

— Heard from Bunzey, who is working with Duncan on managing the town’s transfer station, that no committee has yet been formed but public input is being sought as costs are rising rapidly.

He noted that Albany’s Rapp Road facility, where Berne takes its waste, is closing in 2028 and said, “We want ideas on reducing costs and on illegal dumping”;

— Heard from  Mary-Claire Ansboro, who chairs the Parks and Recreation Committee, that a day in April, near Earth Day, will be chosen for volunteers to “spruce up” the town park. She also said Octoberfest may be paired with a car show this year.

And fee hikes for park use that she proposed last month have been postponed for next year. “It’s not a good time to raise prices for the park,” said Ansboro;

— Authorized Highway Superintendent Alex Stempel to come up with cost estimates to build a nature trail at the town park for which Giebelhaus said there was grant money;

— Accepted the resignation from highway department worker Dale Pastore, effective March 4;

— Heard from Town Clerk Kristin De Oliveira that Christopher Kuhn has been hired to drive the senior bus. Seniors who call ahead at 518-437-5161 can be picked up at their homes to shop on Thursdays. The bus holds 10 people and has a wheelchair ramp;

— Heard from De Oliveira that last year 24,199 pounds of clothes had been collected at the transfer station’s textile bin, worth $968, to be distributed to over 4,000 people worldwide;

— Awarded contracts for truck repairs and for sewer pump and parts maintenance;

— Heard from Giebelhaus that the town had applied for a $4 million federal grant to replace its highway garage.

Resident Joel Willsey asked from the gallery if the garage would be built in a new location.

“We didn’t get into any of those fine details,” Giebelhaus responded.

McHugh said of the local representative, “Paul Tonko doesn’t have as much power as he did a few years ago”;

— Heard from Deputy Tax Collector Andrea Borst that close to $2.8 million in town taxes have been collected, which is 76 percent of the levy; and

— Went into executive session to discuss litigation against the town and acquisition of real property, Giebelhaus said.