Cut for Space: Town and Villages of Montgomery Blog

The State Senate Monday was poised to pass a property tax cap bill that was introduced at the governor’s request late Friday.

The bill is much what school districts and municipalities expected from talk on the campaign trail: the bill caps the tax levy at the lesser of 2 percent or the inflation rate. Local voters can override the cap with a 60 percent vote. New York City is not subject to the cap at all. The Big Four school districts are not subject to it, although those cities local governments will be.

The bill did provide answers to some unknowns, including that the measure wouldn’t take effect until the 2012-13 school year. Municipalities will be able to exempt costs for major litigation, but school districts will not.

The criticisms of the bill are also those echoed among town supervisors and school superintendents in the past six months.

“It will cause drastic reductions in local services,” Town of New Windsor Supervisor George Green said. “They talk a good fight in Albany, but tell me what they’re going to do about health care, workman’s compensation and pension costs … those are the drivers of the budget.”

During the debate, state Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer (D-Mamaroneck) said that the state also needs to take on mandate relief. She indicated that this was likely a one-house bill, but she would vote for it.

Read the bill here.

Read a summary by New York State United Teachers here.

You can also watch senate debate when its in session, here.

The Valley Central School Board met last Thursday to take care of a few executive session topics. However, the salaries of Central Office administrators, which has got parents talking, was not one of them.

School board president Bob Santo said Monday that the board did three things.

First, Santo said the board authorized a retiree to come back and work for the district part time.

Second, the board gave cost of living raise, about 2.3 percent, to about a dozen employees who don’t have a bargaining unit. Those folks include technicians, a cook, and the director of buildings and grounds, Santo said.

Then they allowed employees to take advantage of state and local retirement incentives.

Santo couldn’t say when the board would again discuss whether to offer raise to Central Office administrators. He said it will be on a future agenda.

Walden Mayor Brian Maher has been appointed as a member of the Orange County Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee.

The board reviews annual applications for grant funding from all municipalities in the county and makes recommendations for approval.

Maher represent the Orange County Mayors and Supervisor’s Association through next year.

He was appointed by Orange County Executive Edward Diana.

Dan Davis of Youth Educating Society Inc. is returning to Valley Central to again speak to the community about youth and substance abuse.

The topic of youth drug abuse is also being discussed by the new Town of Montgomery Coalition for a Drug-Free Community, which has a meeting May 18.

Davis will speak at 7 p.m. June 2, in the Valley Central High School Auditorium. The public is invited.

The PTA Council has gathered profiles for the candidates for Valley Central’s board of education.

Check them out here.

The Coldengham Preservation & Historical Society is hosting a talk about America’s first female botanist who hailed from Montgomery at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Wallkill River School.

Sara S. Gronim will speak about Jane Colden. Gronim is an associate professor in the Department of History at Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus. She has published several articles and books of note, including “What Jane Knew: A Woman Botanist in the Eighteenth Century” in the Journal of Women’s History

Admission to this presentation is free, and all are welcome. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, please contact Suzanne Isaksen at 845-641-0463, or coldenhistory@earthlink.net.

Valley Central High School grad Colin Schmitt has been rubbing elbows with the likes of Newt Gingrich while at The Catholic University, but his political passions still lie back at home.

Today, the 19-year-old announced a new New York political action committee called New Dawn. Schmitt’s already got seven years of experience in local politicking working with the local Republican committee and candidates.

But Schmitt says he’s tired of both parties failing to represent New Yorkers. His knowledge of New York politics is evident in his New Dawn Plan, which proposes reform in the state budget process, redistricting and business development.

You can find Schmitt and New Dawn on Facebook or Twitter or email him at Colin@NewDawnNY.com.

The Valley Central High School’s All Night Grad Party Committee is sponsoring three fundraisers. Here’s how you can support the cause:

• May 14: See local talent at the VC Idol competition at 7 p.m. at Valley Central High School. Tickets are $7.00 per adults, $5.00 per students and children.
• May 16:  Coin Drop at Shop Rite of Montgomery on Hawkins Drive from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• May 16: Drive over to Sam’s Club on Galleria Drive in Middletown for a Burger Burn beginning at 11 a.m.

All proceeds will benefit the All Night Grad Party Committee, which hosts  a drug-and-alcohol free event for graduates.

Mayor Steve Brescia said Tuesday afternoon that the Village of Montgomery board is poised to announce a new police chief.

The board will hold a brief executive session and then take a vote. The board meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight at village hall.

There was much discussion Tuesday at the Village of Montgomery board meeting over the real cost of the police department. Mayor Steve Brescia debated with one resident as to whether the budget actually went up about 38 percent over two years.

First, let’s look at the numbers:

Brescia points out that the increases in personal services (a.k.a salaries) is to buffer the village for the cost of the union settlement. That cost will likely include a salary increase and retroactive pay, according to village officials. So the village is banking about $175,000 for that event.

Brescia said that this does not mean the police budget itself has gone up 38 percent over two years. Well, he’s kind of right. It doesn’t mean that the salaries went up 38 percent. What it means is that the village is budgeting for the cost of the union contract to be about 32 percent of the 2008-09 budget and has thus added that money to the police budget, which makes it go up on paper about 38 percent.

Yet, however you want to say it, taxpayers will be paying more for the police department.

First, they’ll be paying the retroactive pay, which officials have said might be for anywhere from two to four years. Brescia pointed the village cops haven’t had a raise in several years, but that’s not uncommon when a department is waiting for the settlement of a union contract. The officers will effectively get raises, if awarded so in the contract decision, in the form of retroactive pay. That’s exactly the event for which the village is budgeting about $175,000.

Second, the new baseline of the department will go up. How much, will depend on the arbitration decision. But let’s play with some numbers just to get an idea.

Trustee Mike Hembury threw out one example Tuesday night: $21 an hour. He mistakenly said this as what the police make now, which is actually $17.15 an hour (with a few making more and a few less). But this number has been bandied about before as a possible new baseline, so let’s go with it.

From January to December 2009, the department worked a total of 22,080.

Doing the math, a raise to from $17.15 to $21 an hour would add $85,000 to the police salary line. That’s about a 21 percent increase to the 2008-09 salary line. Add that to the current $170,987 in “other” expenses, and you have a $652,000 department.

Brescia and others have said the cost of the police department can always be lowered by cutting the number of hours worked.

Of course, this is all just speculation. Until the long-awaited arbitration decision is handed down, which one trustee last night said is costing “a lot” in lawyer fees, the real cost of the village police department will be veiled in guessing games.

The last two years of village budgets are available on the village website.