RENSSELAERVILLE — Five months after announcing the 16 local organizations that would get grant money from the Kuhar Endowment Fund this year, the town of Rensselaerville has its hands tied in red tape and is unable to disburse the funds as it awaits state approval. 

The organizations — which include the local fire companies, library, and Huyck Preserve — were expecting to receive a share of $17,265 that was the interest earned on the $860,000 fund, which the town received from the late Jeffrey Bogue in 2022. The town had announced the recipients in April, and this year the money was going to be put to use. 

However, the town’s attorney, William Ryan, reported to the town board in June that he had been going “back and forth with the attorney general’s office” for several months at that point, and that they “didn’t like where we put our commas and semicolons” in the plan for how the town was going to use the money. 

At the board’s latest meeting, on Sept. 12, Ryan said that the town was still waiting on a determination and that he would be looking into the holdup since “everything’s been down there for a while.” 

The New York State Attorney General’s Office could not be reached for more information on its role in the process, but it has jurisdiction over charities and not-for-profits in the state, including estates that make charitable donations. 

The Kuhar Endowment Fund originated from a bequest left to the town by the late Jeffrey Bogue, who was not a resident of the town but had ties to it through his relation to the Kuhar family. The bequest was a surprise to the town, and Bogue had not left any directive about how to use the money. 

Confusing things even further, the attorney whom Bogue had used to set up the bequest died before the town was able to get in touch with him. 

The town decided independently that it would use the money to further local interests, based in part on the fact that Bogue was a committed volunteer while he was alive, according to his cousin, Rosemarie Kuhar. 

As an endowment, the town can only use the interest generated by the fund while the principal remains untouched.