Tusten: Changes at the town hall

By DAVID HULSE

NARROWSBURG, NY — Money is tight in Tusten, but some things are going to get done in 2003.

For starters, people are going to be able to see improvements at the town hall this year. Plans include paneling or sheet rocking the walls, insulating the windows and replacing the carpet. The extensive renovations to the ground-floor meeting room, which board members say is used by more than 20,000 people annually, will be paid for with a $9,375 state grant supplied through state Senator John Bonacic last year.

Another federal grant is replacing the sand at the Narrowsburg sewer treatment plant.

But plans to install generators for emergency power at the town hall and highway barn had to be scaled down because there were no grants involved.

Only $1,800 was available to install emergency power at the town barn, but Crandall said the town hall would have to wait.

“We’ll see how much is left at the end of the year,” he said.

Tax exemptions and appeals have made money more of an issue for Tusten’s normally frugal town fathers. A successful $2 million tax appeal by the Norfolk-Southern Railroad ruined anticipated tax-revenue increases from new building last year.

It didn’t help, either, when the town learned they were third among Sullivan towns in the in the percentage of property exempted from taxes.

Crandall has been seeking other revenue sources, lately including efforts to contract town properties with a broker for wireless communication tower developers.

The town board also recently increased permit fees for residential and accessory building fees.

An important moment will come in May with the planned Memorial Day dedication of the new riverside Veterans’ Memorial Park. The park development has been another project in which Crandall has been heavily involved.

Tusten will face a challenge replacing him in the fall elections, as Crandall has announced he will not seek a new two-year term.