RENSSLEAERVILLE — A substantial sum of money left to the town of Rensselaerville by the late Jeffrey Bogue is loosening from the grip of state bureaucracy, an attorney for the town told the town board last week. 

The attorney, Andrew Clark, explained that the town has been granted cy prés by a court, meaning that it will be allowed to adjust the original terms of the bequest to make actually using the money more practical, which Clark called “the major hurdle we’ve been trying to overcome.” 

Specifically, the town can move the money to a new trustee — either The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region, or another organization that Clark said has yet to submit a proposal — that will have more leeway in the administration of the money. 

The Enterprise reported in September that attorneys for the town have been going “back and forth with the attorney general’s office” over use of the funds since that office has jurisdiction over the money. 

The Kuhar Endowment Fund, as it’s now called, originated from a bequest left to the town by 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 interest generated by 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. 

The town got as far as announcing specific organizations that would receive the first batch of money when it learned about the snags in state law that halted that process. 

Clark told the board last week that, if the money is entrusted to The Community Foundation, there will be an annual fee of around $8,200, which would cut into the net gains, but would hopefully be attached to an overall higher interest rate. 

Although he noted that some of these negotiations began before his involvement, Clark explained that “the idea was to potentially make it better and keep the fund growing and provide more opportunities for the town.” 

He said the foundation also has the “endowment fund option” where the rate of return is guaranteed and the principal amount is never touched. 

Clark said that the issue for the town arose from the fact that the money was left to the town as an endowment, but that it wasn’t producing enough money for the town to use.

“That’s why we had to go back and amend the terms of this endowment fund [Bogue] set up,” Clark said. “It is very in the minutia of it all when I know we’re looking at the numbers and saying, ‘Why does this matter,’ essentially, but it was enough to get the attorney general’s office involved and say you have to do it this way with a separate trustee if you want to keep investing it.” 

With the funds being applied to investments that are relatively more volatile, Clark said the town would be able to offer its input to the foundation about the investment portfolio.

Supervisor John Dolce said he had not yet received the historic rate of return, which Clark said he would provide at a later time. 

Clark also said that the foundation will handle “everything on the back end” and give the town its earnings on a regular basis. 

When asked whether the Bank of Greene County, where the money had been placed, could act as the trustee, Dolce explained that the bank doesn’t have the necessary license to do so. 

Making clear to a resident who complained about the annual fee that he too was unhappy about the limited options that the attorney general’s office presented to the town, Dolce said that “8,200 bucks is a lot of money” and that he isn’t “laying down” on the issue.