News from the Tusten Town Board

By LIAM MAYO
Posted 11/15/22

NARROWSBURG, NY — The Town of Tusten Town Board held its regular meeting on November 9, a day after its regular time—the town hall was in use the previous day for election-day voting. …

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News from the Tusten Town Board

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NARROWSBURG, NY — The Town of Tusten Town Board held its regular meeting on November 9, a day after its regular time—the town hall was in use the previous day for election-day voting. That meeting saw a presentation of the town’s 2023 budget, and a discussion about several town projects and the portable toilet that the town board had placed on Main Street.

Budget

The town board held a preliminary hearing on the town’s 2023 budget. (Figures below come from the town’s preliminary 2023 budget.)

The grand total of appropriations from the general fund for 2023 is $819,588.00, up from $744,689.00 in the 2022 budget. Salaries increased across the board for most town employees and officials, and the contractual expenses for a few departments went up: the line item for the assessor increased from $2,500 to $14,000, the town clerk/tax collector from $10,410 to $30,000, the building department from $75,000 to $90,000, and the youth program from $10,000 to $20,000.

Property tax revenues dipped in the 2023 budget; the projected revenue dropped from $344,089 to $342,980. Other sources of revenue increased; the town will receive $18,000 (up from $8,900) in payments in lieu of taxes, $29,000 from rental of property and an additional $20,000 from the state aid for mortgage taxes.

The property rental money will come from the rental of 93 Main Street, according to supervisor Ben Johnson. A brewery that had previously planned to open in the refurbished Rasmussen & Sons building answered a request for proposals for that building, and the brewery is currently negotiating terms for the rental of 93 Main Street with the town’s attorney.

The town’s highway appropriations have declined, going from $1,777,502 in 2022 to $1,687,963 in 2023. The same is true of the town’s water district, decreasing from $317,630 in 2022 to $310,180 in 2023. Sewer appropriations have stayed constant at $344,130, and lighting district appropriations have dropped from $31,600 in 2022 to $2,500 in 2023. The lighting district had been overfunded in the past, an overfunding that the current budget corrects, according to Johnson.

“I feel it went good,” says Johnson, speaking of the budget process. The town is facing a few added expenses—adding aspects of the town’s code to the eCode360 portal, the repair project to the Little Lake Erie culverts, the water improvement project—but should be in pretty good shape moving forward.

Toilet troubles

The board heard public comment from resident Star Hesse asking for an accounting of what was spent on the port-a-potty the town placed on Main Street.

The board had voted in June to rent a portable toilet from Enviroventures over the summer; it was placed behind the former Wayne Bank building at 93 Main St. The decision (which members of the public had requested) remedied the lack of public bathrooms on Narrowsburg’s Main Street, an issue of particular importance during the town’s busy summer season.

Hesse brought a complaint about the unit to the board as early as its July 12 meeting. The unit had a shell and a hole and toilet paper, but did not include a handwashing station nor was it ADA-compliant, said Hesse. She asked the board to consider awarding the contract to one of the other bidders.

At the board’s November 9 meeting, Hesse returned to the issue with an emphasis on the lack of ADA compliance.

The unit had cost the town about $1,800 more than the other alternatives, and was less congenial, said Hesse. She asked the board for certification of the response that said it was ADA compliant.

Johnson said he had requested and received the information about the toilet’s ADA compliance from Enviroventures, and that he would forward that information to Hesse. Speaking with the River Reporter, Johnson said that Hesse was the only person saying it hadn’t been an ADA-compliant unit, and that if a different company had provided the same unit at the same price, it wouldn’t have been an issue. Enviroventures is listed as a Ned Lang company.

Hesse received by email an online listing for an ADA-compliant port-a-potty unit, with further documents promised by mail.

During the meeting, other board members emphasized the fact that the town had paid for only part of the unit’s cost, with the Narrowsburg Chamber of Commerce and an individual business chipping in.

Projects in the works

The board additionally discussed the status of several town projects.

Bids had been received for the Little Lake Erie culvert repair project, and were currently being reviewed.

The board authorized $500,000 for the town’s water system improvement project, an amount that would hold the town over until its grant funding kicked in.

And the question of the proposed move of the Tusten HORSE to a Cornell Cooperative Extension facility was tabled, pending approval from the NYS Comptroller. Once approved, the town board can accept the DEC continuation grant for $200,000 awarded to the TEC.

Correction: An earlier version of thiss article incorrectly stated that the move of the Tusten HORSE awaited information from the DEC. This has been corrected as of 12:00 pm, November 18.

Tusten town board, budget

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