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Budget passes; still no decision on fire coverage
By Paul Crossman
The Kinderhook Town Board met on Monday and voted to pass the final budget for the 2010 fiscal year. Though the vote was unanimous, the recent issue of who to give the town’s contract for fire protection to remained undecided, with the board allotting the money in the budget, but refraining from making a decision about which fire department — the village of Kinderhook or the town of Stuyvesant Falls — would get the contract.
“We should not foreclose on their ability to negotiate,” said Kinderhook Town Supervisor Doug McGivney, speaking of Kinderhook Mayor William VanAlstyne’s discussion with the Stuyvesant Fire Commissioners about their decision not to renew the village’s contract for protection.
According to McGivney, the town has until January to officially make a decision on who to contract with, and is waiting to see how negotiations with the village and the Stuyvesant Fire Commissioners play out before announcing an answer.
The tax rate for residents of the town of Kinderhook will actually decrease from the number reflected in the preliminary budget. This is because when the Kinderhook Town Board passed the final budget, it no longer included a $25,000 line to help the village of Valatie pay for a recently-purchased ladder truck.
The overall tax rate for 2010 will now be $1.31 per $1,000, down three cents from the preliminary figure of $1.34 per $1,000, and up only two cents from last year’s rate of $1.29 per $1,000.
“As usual, the board worked very well together,” McGivney told the Register-Star. “We went over the budget line by line, then went back over it again when it came out too high.”
McGivney said the board originally included the fire truck money in the budget because Valatie was having problems paying the truck off, but the board was later persuaded by members of the Niverville Fire Department that the village had actually overpaid for the truck. This, combined with the fact that several board members felt that the entire town should not have to pay for something used mainly by the village, led the board to take the money out of the budget before voting to approve it.
“I wasn’t comfortable approving the budget before [the $25,000 was taken out],” said board member Debbie Johnson. “We shouldn’t have to make the whole town pay because the village of Valatie is having problems paying for their fire truck.”
Though the overall budget decreased two cents per $1,000 from the preliminary budget, other parts of the budget had even more significant decreases, with the highway tax dropping 24 cents from 77 cents per $1,000 to 53 cents per $1,000.
“There was a great deal of discussion about helping out with the Valatie ladder truck,” said McGivney, “but that issue is now resolved and has helped us keep the tax rate increase to only two cents per $1,000.”
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com.
“We should not foreclose on their ability to negotiate,” said Kinderhook Town Supervisor Doug McGivney, speaking of Kinderhook Mayor William VanAlstyne’s discussion with the Stuyvesant Fire Commissioners about their decision not to renew the village’s contract for protection.
According to McGivney, the town has until January to officially make a decision on who to contract with, and is waiting to see how negotiations with the village and the Stuyvesant Fire Commissioners play out before announcing an answer.
The tax rate for residents of the town of Kinderhook will actually decrease from the number reflected in the preliminary budget. This is because when the Kinderhook Town Board passed the final budget, it no longer included a $25,000 line to help the village of Valatie pay for a recently-purchased ladder truck.
The overall tax rate for 2010 will now be $1.31 per $1,000, down three cents from the preliminary figure of $1.34 per $1,000, and up only two cents from last year’s rate of $1.29 per $1,000.
“As usual, the board worked very well together,” McGivney told the Register-Star. “We went over the budget line by line, then went back over it again when it came out too high.”
McGivney said the board originally included the fire truck money in the budget because Valatie was having problems paying the truck off, but the board was later persuaded by members of the Niverville Fire Department that the village had actually overpaid for the truck. This, combined with the fact that several board members felt that the entire town should not have to pay for something used mainly by the village, led the board to take the money out of the budget before voting to approve it.
“I wasn’t comfortable approving the budget before [the $25,000 was taken out],” said board member Debbie Johnson. “We shouldn’t have to make the whole town pay because the village of Valatie is having problems paying for their fire truck.”
Though the overall budget decreased two cents per $1,000 from the preliminary budget, other parts of the budget had even more significant decreases, with the highway tax dropping 24 cents from 77 cents per $1,000 to 53 cents per $1,000.
“There was a great deal of discussion about helping out with the Valatie ladder truck,” said McGivney, “but that issue is now resolved and has helped us keep the tax rate increase to only two cents per $1,000.”
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com.
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