RENSSELAERVILLE — The temperature rose Monday night, as frustrations and accusations of angered residents rang throughout the crowded town hall.

The topic of discussion was the proposed 2007 budget.

The tentative $2.24 million budget reduces the library’s fund by $3,000 to $22,000, eliminates a full-time highway worker for a $1.1 million department budget, and adds $6,000 for the town newsletter. It would also keep the tax rate comparable to this year’s.

Throughout the meeting, residents tried to persuade the board to reconsider its changes and cuts, and recommended alternatives. Frustrated and offended residents attacked the board and the supervisor.

Distrust of town officials by town residents, and differing of opinions among board members was revealed.

Tempers flared, and a door was opened to cool down heated discussions, but fiery discussion and objection still raged.

Sal Santo brought a petition signed by 244 residents to the board, which described the town’s road system and asked the board to freeze hiring.

Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg was accused of having knowledge of laying off Deputy Superintendent David Potter.
"We have never talked about it," Nickelsberg said. "It’s another lie. I don’t know what you’re talking about."

After Nickelsberg’s comments, G. Jon Chase, the highway superintendent, read a letter from state Senator Neil Breslin saying Potter must pass a Civil Service exam to keep his job.

After the letter was read, audience members, convinced the letter had caught the supervisor in a lie, laughed and directed their suspicions to Nickelsberg.
Ben Neidl, the planning-board attorney, who was filling in for William Ryan, stood, and, over the commotion, said, "It’s a legal requirement." Neidl added that the test was not invented.

Public workers in many municipalities have had to pass Civil Service exams in the past year, which were not enforced earlier at the county level, resulting in some long-time workers losing their jobs.

At the conclusion of the meeting, confusion and chaos ensued after a motion was made by Councilman Gary Chase to not lay off a town employee.

Two board members — Democrats Gary Chase and Sherri Pine — voted for the motion; two others — Republicans Nickelsberg and Myra Dorman — were opposed.

Councilman J. Robert Lansing, a Republican, was looked to, to break the tie. Lansing was nudged by Councilwoman Dorman, and Lansing voted no.

Shouts from the audience ensued.

A woman from the audience said Lansing didn’t know what he was voting on, and added that Dorman had to nudge him to get his attention.

Dorman said Lansing had spoken, but that his vote wasn’t loud enough to hear.
Chase, uncertain whether Lansing heard and understood the motion, restated his motion, and said to Lansing, "So, you want to lay off a town employee""

Lansing shook his head.

Throughout the motion and confusion, audience members filed out of the hall.
"We did not adjourn the meeting," Gary Chase yelled.

Kathy Hallenbeck, the town clerk, told The Enterprise Tuesday that no one knows whether the motion was passed, and added that the town attorney was taking a look at it.
"That was quite a meeting," Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg told The Enterprise.

Nickelsberg also told The Enterprise this week that, when he campaigned, he ran on a tax-cutting platform. He assumed office in January.
"We are hopeful that will happen," he said of lowering taxes. Nickelsberg also told The Enterprise that, according to the results of a recent survey, 74 percent of the town’s residents who answered the survey thought the most negative feature of the town was its high taxes, and residents wanted them lowered.

Comments from the public

Public comment began with Jeff Pine, one of the town’s assessors, who is married to Councilwoman Pine, reading a letter, that said the tentative budget is incomplete.
"There is no line item for the building inspector," he read, and added that certain town expenses had been left out.

Pine’s letter also said Nickelsberg failed to hold budget workshops, that he is incompetent, and that he needed Hallenbeck, the town clerk, to explain budget terms to him.

The letter said that the town is not in debt, has a surplus of $1 million, and that the surplus is not mentioned in the tentative budget.
"You must spend this money or return it to the taxpayers," Pine said. Pine’s letter suggested the board give two-tenths of the surplus to town employees, and implored the board to fully fund the library.
"If you do this, you’ll cut the tax rate in half," his letter said.

The hall erupted with applause.
Pine, near the meeting’s conclusion, said to Nickelsberg, "Do your job."

Nickelsberg told The Enterprise Tuesday, "We’re interested in tax relief, not in being a bank." He said the town is looking at "some sort of tax relief’’ or refund. "All options are on the table," he said.

Throughout the meeting, Nickelsberg asked audience members to quiet down. Nickelsberg also asked several times for people to withhold their comments while he spoke.

During the meeting, two townspeople, angered and upset, left.

Near its conclusion, Santo, a land surveyor, and Richard Amadure, a planning board member, began an argument, which was stopped by Nickelsberg, after Amedure said that some townspeople were ill-informed or misinformed about what went on in their town.

Angered residents stated concerns about the contents, cost, and rhetoric of the town newsletter, and asked for continued funding for the library.

Rebecca Lubin, the director of the library, read several letters from concerned patrons.
One of the letters said it "would be a shame" to cut services and funding from "the town’s strongest community asset." Another said that cutting library funding could set a precedent for future budgets.

An anonymous donation of $3,000 was recently made to the library, but many town residents and library employees want the library line reinstated.

Janet Haseley, of the Rensselaerville Historical Society, said she didn’t want to see any funding cut from the library, and added that the library provides members of the community with user-friendly facilities and operating hours.

The library, she said, is where patrons are able to access the Internet, attend meetings, and hold workshops. Haseley added that all involved with the library work hard to raise money, and that the library, rather than experiencing a decrease in funding, should be given more money.

Haseley also supported the newsletter, saying it was a good informational source.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, the line item for Advance Life Support, the paramedic fly-car program, was $63,000, an increase of $2,899 over this year.

During public comment, Gerald Wood said that this was not the correct amount. He said that the ALS cost to the town was going to be about $36,000, a decrease over this year, and that the town got a letter informing it of the change. The town of Bethlehem joined the group of municipalities, served by the county program, thereby reducing the cost for individual towns.
"You fudged the budget," Wood said to Nickelsberg.

Supervisor comments

During his report, Nickelsberg supported reasons for making cuts by citing unfunded mandates, high property taxes, and many town residents’ having a fixed income.

He said unfunded mandates passed down from the county and state result in high taxes.
"We ran on record," Nickelsberg said during his report, "that we are attempting to hold public office for the greater good"relative to all issues."

Nickelsberg said the stock market was at an all-time high, and government receipts are shrinking.
"Bottom line — higher taxes," he said.

Nickelsberg said school, state, county, and federal taxes will all increase, and, he said a lot of the residents of the town are older, and have a fixed income.
"It is our job," he said, "to keep taxes flat or reduce them."

Nickelsberg cited the federal Help America Vote Act, and said, a $1.9 million expense for machines was passed down to the towns, and that the supervisors of the towns in Albany County got together in an effort to reduce the costs.

The result was an agreement between the county and the towns. Towns would pay about $600,000, and the county would cover the remaining expense.

He added that unfunded mandates are going to continue, and that it is the job of town officials to take a stand against them.

Nickelsberg told The Enterprise that the numbers of the budget are not correct. He said, "We’re getting very close. We already have some additions and deletions."

He said the numbers are imperfect, and that the town also has savings, unexpended balances, and increased receipts not mentioned in the budget.

Nickelsberg said that it is his job to keep taxes from increasing and said the town is looking at money-saving strategies — buying from and sharing services with other towns — and putting out more competitive bids.
"Anything over $200 goes out to bid," he said.

Nickelsberg said the town recently bought a new insurance policy that saves the town about $3,200, and found a new supplier of culverts, which saved about $3,400.
"We’re looking at everything," he said.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Welcomed new members to the Medusa Fire Company: William Adams, Matthew Duncan, Robyn Albergo, Guy Albergo, Dominick Higgins, and Michael Forman;

— Heard a question from Grimes, if the town attorneys are paid more than the previous town attorneys, who didn’t have to travel from Albany. Nickelsberg said the town attorneys are making the same as in the past;
— Did not accept a bid for a waste-oil furnace from Mid-State Supply. The board, after hearing from Dennis Jenkinson, did not feel it had enough information, and was not certain of a total price. Nickelsberg, concerned with the coming cold temperatures said, "We’re running out of fall";

— Did not accept bids to repair the salt shed. While discussing the bid, Councilman Chase questioned Nickelsberg’s spending;

— Heard from Vernon Husek, the chairman of the land-use planning committee, that the committee completed the town’s vision statement. The statement, he said, is posted on the town website, and the committee is inviting comments. The next step, Husek said, is to develop goal statements. Then, he said, the committee will develop strategies before finalizing the plan;

— Heard from Jack Long, who is temporarily chairing the water district, that he will continue chairing the district until the end of the year;

— Heard a request from Richard Feiner, that he would like Edwards Hill Road, which is between routes 145 and 81, paved. He said that, in July of 2005, he brought a petition signed by 42 residents to the board, and that, to get to Cooksburg from his restaurant, you can either drive one-fourth of a mile down the road, or seven miles to go around.
"We’ll try and figure out what to do," Nickelsberg said; and

— Heard a request from Tom Lippert to buy the land next to the schoolhouse in Potter Hollow. Lippert said the one-acre property is connected to the schoolhouse, which is on a small property, and would like to see the land used as a park.