County to keep new building

By FRITZ MAYER

TOWN OF BETHEL, NY — Back in 2002, when the county accepted federal grants to build a new transportation facility on Airport Road in the Town of Bethel, the money came with strings attached. In return for the funding, the county agreed to provide an enhanced transportation program.

However, when the building was finished in September 2009, county officials faced the worst budget scenario they’d seen in many years, and decided that they could not afford to provide enhanced transportation. One way to avoid the conditions that came with the grant would be to sell or transfer the building to another municipality.

It happened that officials in Bethel were looking to build or purchase a new town barn and, according to county manager David Fanslau, the county offered to sell the building to the town at cost, which was about $3 million, with 90 percent of the funds having come from Washington.

Bethel supervisor Dan Sturm said he and other officials toured the facility, and they agreed that it was beautiful, but it would need extensive work to fill the town’s needs. For instance, the bays are not large enough to accommodate the town’s large vehicles and would, therefore, need to be retrofitted.

Sturm said in light of the changes that would be required, the price tag was too high to make the deal attractive, but the town would be interested if the price were lower.

Fanslau said that it would not be fair to the other municipalities in the county to sell the facility for less than cost. He added that county Department of Public Works is now planning to staff the facility and comply with the conditions of the grant to provide an enhanced transportation program to county residents.

The county’s transportation program includes transporting Medicaid patients, residents on temporary assistance and veterans to medical appointments.