In split vote
R’ville adopts $2.3M budget



RENSSELAERVILLE — In a vote split along party lines, the town board on Thursday adopted a controversial hold-the-line budget for next year.

The three Republicans — led by Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg, who campaigned last year on reducing taxes — voted for the $2.3 million spending plan, an increase of $7,000 over this year’s.

The two Democratic council members voted against the plan. Taxpayers will pay $8.05 per $1,000 of assessed value.

At its October meeting, the town board heard a number of protests from residents concerning the board’s proposed changes to the budget.

Before the budget was adopted, all of the changes — adding $6,000 for the town’s newsletter, reducing $3,000 from the library’s fund, and laying off a town highway worker — were altered.

The newsletter was reduced from the proposed total of $18,000 to $17,500; the library, which received an anonymous check for $3,000, had its line reinstated; and, after several votes, the board elected to not lay off a highway worker.

On Thursday, William Ryan, the town’s attorney, who was not present at the October meeting, was called upon to examine the minutes regarding an inconclusive vote on not laying off a town worker, as a petition signed by over 200 residents had requested. The motion was seconded by the other Democratic council member, Sherri Pine.

Near the end of that meeting, angered town residents began filing out of town hall. Democratic Councilman Gary Chase, son of the highway superintendent, made a motion to not lay off the town highway worker, seconded by Councilwoman Pine. Amid the rustling within the hall, Chase insisted that the meeting had not ended. The Republicans defeated the motion, 3 to 2, but, following a public outburst that Republican Councilman Robert Lansing didn’t know what he was voting on, Chase called for a re-vote, and the motion was carried with Lansing casting the swing vote.
"I don’t think there’s a clear understanding of what the motion was," Ryan concluded after reading the minutes.

Chase then restated his motion to not lay off a town employee as allocated in the 2007 budget, and the board voted 3-2 against it. Chase, convinced that Lansing still did not have a clear understanding of the motion, repeated the motion.

The motion was then carried 3-2 in favor, with Republicans Myra Dorman and Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg opposed, and Lansing siding with the Democrats.

Public comment

At prior town board meetings, residents had been allotted time to comment both at the meeting’s beginning and its end. Thursday, residents were given two minutes at the meeting’s conclusion.
Residents who took note of the change, questioned the board.

One said that the public comment at the beginning of meetings should not be left out, and added that public comment could greatly influence the board’s decision-making. Another said that the possible six minutes allowed for a person in the public was reduced to two minutes.
"Who made the decision"" a resident asked.
"I did," Nickelsberg said.

Nickelsberg has been attacked numerous times during the public comment sessions.
When asked why the public was not allowed to comment, he responded, "A number of people in the audience are elderly. It’s an issue of time and the time of night."

Grievance Board

The grievance board, which is funded $1,600 for this year, had its funding eliminated for 2007.

Ellen Moak, who chairs the Grievance Board, is perplexed.
"I don’t understand," Moak told The Enterprise this week.
Moak said that the board, which consists of three members, listens to people’s grievances regarding their assessments."

The committee meets once a year, on the fourth Tuesday of May, a date set by the state, and, though its funding is depleted, the board will continue to operate.
"You cannot eliminate the board," Moak said.

Moak added that the members of the board have to be certified, and members go through training and study for their positions.

Moak questioned Nickelsberg’s tactics.
"He didn’t try to work with us. He just cancelled it out completely."
"It’s been around for 40 years," Councilman Chase said of the board. "He added $5,500 to the newsletter," Chase said of Nickelsberg, "yet he took away money from people who’d been working for the town."

Chase and Pine told The Enterprise that they do not agree with the depletion of the board’s funding. Pine’s husband is a town assessor.

Nickelsberg told The Enterprise this week that the grievance board is "one of the most absurd expenditures in the town," and called the funds for the grievance board in prior years "a bad use of capital."
"Alan Wright, the chairman of the planning board, serves on a voluntary basis, and he is yet to receive his first penny of compensation," he said. "That’s a really solid contribution."

Nickelsberg also said that the members of the zoning board of appeals, planning board, and land-use committee all serve without pay.
"They meet more often, and don’t get a penny. And the grievance board gets paid $1,600, and they work one day a year" How did that ever happen"" he asked.

Budget process

Democrats Chase and Pine did not agree with Nickelsberg’s decision-making, the added funds for the newsletter, the elimination of the grievance board’s funds, and the budget-working process. They also did not agree with the added money used from the town’s surplus to balance the budget.

In past years, Chase, Pine, and Nickelsberg said, $120,000 was used from the town’s fund balance to balance the budget. This year $235,000 was used.

Of the roughly $800,000 in the fund balance, Chase told The Enterprise, about $400,000 remains, and about $120,000 was split up in legal, equipment, and capital funds.

Chase is concerned that using $115,000 more than in previous years will eventually deplete the surplus.
"If we do this for a couple of years," he said, "we’re not going to have any surplus left."

Chase, who has been a councilman for 7 years, also said he didn’t think he and Pine were as involved in the budget process this year.

Chase said that line items were not given enough individual attention, and that Nickelsberg wanted to pass the budget the first night it was presented to the board.
"Everything was just done," Chase said. "I’m not just going to be a ‘yes’ man. I was elected to look out for the people of the town’s best interests."
"I didn’t agree with the whole process," he said.

Supervisor Nickelsberg told The Enterprise that multiple increase in crude oil due to a substantial increase in petroleum prices impacts all that the town buys.

Nickelsberg said the surplus saved during Lansing’s terms as supervisor greatly help with the added costs.
"It comes down to choice," Nickelsberg said of the use of the surplus to balance the budget.
"We didn’t use $240,000 or $250,000, because we were told the county taxes were going to be reduced by 2 percent," he said. "In the meantime, we’re aggressively going to go after anything to continue efficiency in government."

Nickelsberg added that the board will explore all options, and consider ways to reduce taxes. He said he’ll look at collaborative efforts with the county, the state, and other towns.

Nickelsberg also referred to the town-wide survey issued by the land-use committee that said 74 percent of the citizens thought high taxes to be the greatest negative of the town.
Nickelsberg said that all board members were involved in the budget process "every step of the way."
"We had at least three or four meetings. We had several meetings with workshops," he said. "Everybody had a chance to say what was on their mind."