December 2019 Vol
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Town of Newfane December 2019 Vol. 14 No. 3 Wrights Newfane Olcott Corners Burt Appleton Ridgewood News from our Town Supervisor, Tim Horanburg Here we are again. We had a pretty nice and successful summer, despite the Lake Ontario flooding issues that plagued us again for the 2nd time out of the last 3 years. We again had to close our beach as it was destroyed, so I apologize to the Lifeguards that didn’t have a summer job. We have not even completed the damage repairs caused by the 2017 flooding, and now we have additional damage to deal with. Some that we cannot even see un- til the water recedes to a level for us to get a good look at. One thing the Town did benefit from regarding the high water was the funding we received from NYS to complete some major projects in the Town. I will discuss that further in this article. Again this year, Santa has asked us if we here at the Town Hall would assist him in collecting letters mailed to him, and we said we would be very honored to help him. As in the past, children can put their “Letters to Santa” in our Santa drop box located next to the North entrance doors of the Town Hall. The drop box is clearly marked with a picture of Santa. Santa will start collecting letters from NOW until Tuesday, December 17th. This will give Santa enough time to respond to the children. Due to the time constraints of Santa and his elves, he asks that only individual children who reside in Newfane write to him. Santa is unable to accept letters from groups, such as boy/girl scout troops or school classrooms, etc. Please remember only one letter per child. BE SURE TO HAVE A RETURN ADDRESS ON THE ENVELOPE so Santa can reply!!!! SEASONAL HELP – If you are retired and would like to do some seasonal work for the Town at the Town Marina or Fisherman’s park, please stop by the Supervisor’s of- fice for more information. The Marina operates from April through October, and Fish Park operates from approximately October 1st through November, depending on the Salmon run. Men and women are welcome to apply. 2020 TOWN BUDGET – With the Town Boards help and persistence, we were again able to stay within the 2% tax increase limit. We have never exceeded this State mandate, even though it is extremely difficult with the ever-increasing cost of materials and benefits. The small increases you will see for 2020 are as follows: 1. Fire Protection – Will increase .05 cents per/1000 of assessed value = $5.00 increase 2. Refuse District – Will increase $1.00 per/unit = $1.00 increase 3. Water unit – Will increase $5.00 per home & mobile unit = $5.00 Increase These are the only increases for 2020. Based on a $100,000 home, you will see an $11.00 increase in your 2020 Town Spe- cial District Taxes. Thanks to the stabilization efforts by the Town Board, Newfane has never had to apply to the NY State Comptroller’s Office to exceed the 2% tax cap. This allows our residents to be eligible for any state refunds that may be available. We again just received our “Financial Stress Grade” from the NY State Comptroller of 6.7% which is the same as last year. This is a very good grade in relation to other municipalities. PRSRT STD. PRSRT PAID US POSTAGE NY BUFFALO, #912 PERMIT NEW LED STREET LIGHTS – As you may have noticed, we have just completed converting all our Town street lighting from the old high-pressure sodium to the new LED lighting. You’ll notice that the LED’s are a little more directional, meaning they and other Holiday Events... don’t spread out quite as much as the high-pressure sodium. The Town Board had two options to convert to LED’s. One: from NY Power Authority, where we would purchase the streetlights and be responsible for maintaining them. The Power Au- thority would finance the approximately $200,000 to buy out the existing lights.The Town Board determined that it would take approximately 10 – 12 years to pay that off with the savings on the monthly bill. Also taking into consideration the responsibility/ cost of maintaining them, which could get very expensive, and the liability if some weather event should damage a number of them. The Board elected to not go with this (Details Pages 12-13 ) plan. The Town Board elected to go with the National Grid Plan which is as follows: We paid National Grid $15,000 up front to purchase and install the new lights, and as in the past we will not own them. National Grid will still maintain them. Once all are installed, we will receive a rebate check from NYSERDA/National Grid in the amount of $31,500. This is a net gain for the Town in the amount of $16,500 that will go into the Street Lighting Special District fund. This amount, plus the anticipated savings by using LED lighting will stabilize the cost of our street lighting tax for years to come. Town of Newfane Town 2737 Main Street 14108 Newfane, NY Holiday Light-up & Parade Dec. 6, supervisor continued on page 2.... 1 supervisor continued..... Visit Town of Newfane on Facebook REDI PROGRAM – Lake Ontario “Resiliency Economic Development Initiative” was created and funded by Gov. Cuomo in the amount of $300,000,000 to assist the 8 Lake Ontario counties affect- ed by the Historic flooding of 2017, and now the even more historic flooding in 2019. Some water experts are predicting that the Lake MAY be up to 1’ higher this coming spring than it was in 2019, Town Hall which would be absolutely devastating for Olcott. The Governor formed local REDI commissions 2737 Main Street to put forward plans and cost to make our community more resilient to these high-water events and Newfane, NY 14108 assist in economic development to lakeshore communities. Niagara and Orleans counties were one Hours 8:30 am – 4:30 pm REDI commission area and I was fortunate enough to be selected to be on this commission who Monday through Friday met weekly between Orleans and Niagara counties. The Governor broke the $300,000,000 down as follows: Elected Officials: TOWN BOARD 1. Each County would receive $15,000,000 for their requested projects 2. $20,000,000 was assigned for private landowners to apply to stabilize their shorelines with Supervisor a $50,000 cap per property owner. Timothy R. Horanburg 778-8531 #3 3. $30,000,000 Was assigned for private Marina’s & Yacht Clubs, etc. on a 50/50 grant pro gram basis to assist them to make their facilities more resilient to the high-water events. Councilwoman Laura L. Rutland 4. The Governor kept $160,000,000 to be used exclusively for large scale resiliency/economic Councilwoman Susan Neidlinger projects. Councilman Richard Coleman Councilman Troy D. Barnes The Governor has made it clear that he wants these projects to move forward ASAP. We were Regular Town Board meetings are held at Town Hall on the 4th fortunate to have received a $500,000 grant in 2017 to get the break wall up to design and into the Wednesday of each month at 7:00 pm permitting stage. We have the design 80% complete and we are in the permitting stages now. We need permits from the NYS DEC, Army Corp, Department of State and the NYS Office of General Town Clerk Services. We are way ahead of any large-scale project on the Lake and we could be under construc- Mildred M. Kramp tion next year. 778-8822 #2 Fax 778-5917 I am delighted to tell you that the Town of Newfane was by far the biggest recipient of all the com- Superintendent of Highways munities on Lake Ontario. We received $17,500,000 worth of projects. The projects funded are as Jon Miller follows: 778-8844 1. $14,000,000 – Olcott Harbor break wall – This project will be a 600 foot break wall con- structed 200 feet off the ends of the existing Federal Piers. Town Justice 2896 Transit Road 2. $1,776,700 – To construct an inner harbor sheet pile wall that will be built up to 252 feet Newfane, NY 14108 above sea level. This will keep the water in the harbor up to a level 3’ higher than the water Bruce M. Barnes level reached this year. Scott R. Boudeman 3. $1,723,300 – This will build a protective berm on the West side of Olcott, from the Yacht 778-9292 Club to the West Bluff. This will also be used to research what role the “Old Pond” plays in the Fax 778-5793 water table control, and to possibly install a pump into the pond as a flood control device. Justice Court Office Hours 9:00 to Noon The Governor had originally said that the Communities would be responsible for 15% of the project, Monday through Friday which would have cost the Town of Newfane $2.6 million, a big amount for us to come up with. The Governor, understanding the burden that would cause most small communities, lowered that percent- Receiver of Taxes and Assessments age to 5%, thus lowering our share to $875,000. We are and have been applying for Federal grants Terri L. Iannucci and working with the County to try to cover our share. If we get approved for these grants and other 778-6052 sources, we are hoping to get our share significantly lowered.