Berne budget: A dangerous shell game

To The Editor:

It appears the GOP-backed Berne Town Board has derailed our initiative to qualify the town for up to $250,000 in grant money (with no cost share required).

Taxpayers will probably be paying engineering fees instead of benefiting from a substantial grant, because the board is backing out of an LED [light-emitting diode] streetlight conversion agreement that was the last step to qualify the town for grant eligibility.

Related: Berne is one action-item short of qualifying for Clean Energy Communities designation

It can also be demonstrated that this is part of the “pandemic reserve fund” scam that is actually a $110,000 hole in the budget.

With such grant money, we had envisioned a number of energy- and money-saving projects that would greatly benefit the town and its taxpayers in the future. Perhaps geothermal heat in town buildings? No more big fossil fuel energy bills for taxpayers to shoulder?

I believe Knox received more than $100,000 from this grant program. But the Berne GOP derailed the initiative. Once again, they don’t see the big picture.

The Conservation Board originated the grant initiative and I think it was an excellent idea. I and Todd Schwendeman, who volunteered to manage the initiative, were meeting nights and weekends and submitting the necessary documents to NYSERDA [New York State Energy Research and Development Authority] and NYPA [New York Power Authority] via email for eventual grant eligibility.

As liaison, I was reporting back at the town board meetings. It certainly appeared we were on track to achieve grant eligibility.

But on Jan. 1, 2020, the new GOP-backed board majority voted to remove me as liaison (motion #12) and voted that all Conservation Board activities cease (motion #18). Those chaotic, ridiculous motions derailed the grant initiative.

Mr. Schwendemen was removed from the chairmanship of the planning board to make room for an ex con. Mat Harris took over the project. At that point, the purpose of the overarching project, grant eligibility, (the big picture) was forgotten. 

The LED streetlight conversion was the last of four high-impact actions necessary to achieve the “clean energy community certification” that would make the town eligible for up to $250,000.00 with no matching funds even necessary.  

During a recent town board meeting, I asked the board why we were doing the streetlight conversion in the first place. They said, “to save money.” I continued to press them. It certainly appears they had become unaware that it was just one part, indeed the last part, of a $250,000.00 grant eligibility initiative that they derailed. (clip provided). They don’t see the big picture. 

Last year, in the 2020 budget process, the supervisor refused to use the budget-neutral finance plan recommended for the LED conversion and he put all the LED conversion cost in the 2020 budget. He said he wanted to avoid the finance cost

 I pointed out this was a budget-neutral program. It made no sense to budget for the cost as the project, as planned, would not impact the budget. All the costs, including financing and engineering, were baked into the cake.

The program was designed so that all our streetlight costs, including the project, would not exceed what we would have been paying National Grid over the payback period of say 10 or 12 years. It was designed to be budget neutral.

No increased costs to the town over the payback period and then substantially reduced streetlight costs would follow. It would result in a $250,000 grant eligibility based on, among other actions already accomplished, an economical, budget-neutral LED streetlight conversion.

Bottom line: That conversion, as planned, would save the town money in the long run while never increasing costs.

The attached meeting audio clips make it clear that there was no intention to follow through with the streetlight conversion and the grant initiative. As I understand, when we officially back out of that LED project, we will be responsible for the engineering costs for a project we abandoned. Money for nothing. 

Berne will not be eligible for the $250,000 in grant money. Berne will not have the streetlight improvement, or the savings associated with it. That’s Berne GOP leadership.

The GOP-backed board members appear incapable of the hard work necessary to progress town projects and qualify the town for grant money.  They have no appreciation for the work of others to obtain such grants or to do hard volunteer work like, say the comprehensive plan, on behalf of the town.  This is because they have never really done any such work on behalf of the town themselves.  

The GOP-backed town board has derailed the grant initiative and they have “revised” the projected 2020 LED conversion cost, around $60,000, into the 2021 budget to offset all the raises, tax breaks, and cronyism in the 2021 budget.

They deliberately underfunded the county ambulance by $46,000, claiming they had not received the county request at the Oct. 27 budget workshop (clip provided). But the exact county request numbers, $100,272 [for Advanced Life Support] and $76,037 [for Emergency Medical Services], were in the September tentative budget.

They projected $30,000 instead of $76,309, knocking $46,000 off the request to underestimate town costs. The $60,000 “revised” from the 2020 budget projection is one example of their overestimation of revenue.

It is part of the illegitimate “Pandemic Reserve” now. A reserve is actual money, in an account. Where is the Pandemic Reserve money? The board did not vote to “revise” the 2020 budget or to create a reserve.

Past projected estimates are not money in an account. So, when you add the $60,000 overestimate to the $46,000 underestimate and add the approximately $5,000 Berne will now pay in engineering costs, we have over $110,000 deliberately misrepresented: a hole in the 2021 budget.

Coincidentally that is the size of the “Pandemic Reserve.” But that is the tip of the iceberg. The 2021 Berne budget deliberately underfunds the county ambulance while overestimating revenues. It is a dangerous shell game. 

Joel Willsey

Berne Town Board

Editor’s note: See related story.

 

More Letters to the Editor

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.