Tax rate steady at $2.33
Altamont accepts $2M budget plan



ALTAMONT — In a unanimous vote at Tuesday night’s village board meeting, the board accepted a $2 million preliminary budget for the next fiscal year.

The biggest change in the budget, said Village Clerk Jean LaCrosse, was the addition of the bond for the $1.4 million ground-water project. The water-strapped village drilled a well on a piece of property on Brandle Road, just outside Altamont, to provide more water. The project was scheduled to be finished in February.

The tax rate is $2.33 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a rate that hasn’t changed in the last few years, Village Treasurer Catherine Hasbrouck said at the meeting. The village may have to look at a tax increase in the next budget, though, she added.

Mayor James Gaughan was pleased with the whole budget process this year, he said Wednesday. Discussions were candid and the village was able to maintain its tax rate, he said.

Sales-tax revenues distributed to municipalities by Albany County are the largest source of income for the village, an amount totaling $510,000. The village is counting on collecting $231,973 from property taxes and various other sources of income account for the rest of the budget.

The water fund for 2007-08 is about $395,000; the fund for sewer is about $424,000; and the general fund is about $1.1 million.

A new addition to the budget is a recreation director, part of a shared services program with the town of Guilderland, said LaCrosse. Linda Cure will be coming up with programs for parks in the summer, at a cost of $3,000 to the village.
The "police supplies" line in the budget nearly doubled from the figure last year, going from $4,148 to $7,398. Police supplies include things like flares, ammunition, safety equipment, and uniforms, said Public Safety Commissioner Anthony Salerno. The budget allots $113,049 for salaries in the police department, which includes Salerno’s $41,513 salary and the $16-per-hour wage for part-time officers.

Two new part-time police officers were hired following an executive session at Tuesday night’s meeting. Robert Traina, of Berne, and Brian Caman, of Troy, will be joining Altamont’s police department. Gaughan said that, with the two new hires, there are nine part-time officers in the department, plus Salerno, and the village would like to have 10 part-timers, which is the number there were last year.

Earlier in the meeting, the board accepted a letter of resignation from Maurice McCormick, who was an officer in the Altamont Police Department for several years. He cited family and job commitments as his reasons for resignation. McCormick is an Albany County Sherriff’s deputy, Salerno said yesterday, adding that he would be missed by Altamont.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Held its re-organizational meeting and installed Trustee William Aylward and Trustee Christine Marshall to the village board. Village Judge Rebecca Morse Hout also took the oath of office. All three were unopposed; Aylward and Hout were incumbents;

— Heard from Keith Lee, a gardening expert who is the mayor’s partner, that he plans to start working on the Maple Avenue park when the weather clears. Lee also reported that the Altamont Community Tradition plans to host its annual green-and-clean event on Saturday, April 21;

— Heard that the fire department answered 16 calls in March and 45 calls in April, 42 of which were on Monday. The fire department pumped out more than 40 basements after the storm that brought snow and rain on Sunday and Monday;

— Heard from Donald Cropsey, the village’s building inspector, that he had gotten several calls from Altamont residents regarding a white picket fence that went up on Main Street. He has told the owner of the house that the fence is too high and the owner will be applying for a variance to allow for the fence;

— Heard from Salerno that there will be a safety fair and bicycle rodeo at the village hall on Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be bike safety lessons and free bike helmets for kids, Salerno said yesterday, provided by the law firm of Martin, Harding, and Mazzotti;

— Applauded Altamont Police Officer Patrick Thomas as Salerno presented him with a plaque, to recognize his service to the community. Officer Matthew Hanzalik was also supposed to be recognized, for his dedication to his patrol, Salerno said yesterday, but Hanzalik was unable to be at the meeting;

— Voted unanimously to have the engineering firm of Barton & Loguidice look into problems with the village’s aging sewer system. The firm will be performing a sanitary sewer inflow and infiltration assessment for $28,300;

— Voted unanimously to make changes to an agreement regarding water and sewer services to developer Jeff Thomas’s planned Brandle Meadows senior housing project. The village has agreed to have individual water meters attached to each dwelling in the complex.
"That’s a little bit more burden on the village, but we’re willing to do that," said Guy Roemer, the village’s attorney.

The village will also be taking the title for the water and sewer infrastructure on the Brandle Meadows property and be responsible for maintaining it. The village has asked for an opinion from the state’s comptroller about whether or not it has the authority to take on the infrastructure.

When The Enterprise asked why the village would agree to individual water meters — rather than billing a homeowners’ association for one central meter — and take on the infrastructure, Gaughan answered, "We think we can handle it." He also said that it was important to the village to get the project underway; and

— Voted unanimously to fire Mark Smith, a probationary employee of the public works department who worked for the village for about five months, Gaughan said. Smith didn’t meet job performance standards, Gaughan said, so Public Works Superintendent Timothy McIntire recommended his termination.