Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees Roundup - 10/5/2010

Here's a look at what happened at Tuesday's Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees work session of October 5, 2010.

Trustees Take a Look at Upcoming Capital Projects

Sleepy Hollow trustees got their first look at proposed capital projects that the village will likely undertake in the coming years.

Although the list is not finalized, across all departments roughly $8.25 million in spending is being proposed between 2010 and 2014 (full list attached).

There are quite a number of big-ticket items, such as a three new vehicles for the fire department, a new fly car for the Sleepy Hollow Volunteer Ambulance Corps and vehicles for the Department of Public Works.

"Not everything is going to happen this year, but maybe the next, or the next," said Village Treasurer Sara DiGiacomo. "This is just so you can see what is coming up in the future and what the costs are like."

The biggest item is for an updated water tank. The village's current water tank has an 800,000-gallon capacity and was built in 1925; it can only sustain the village on its own for 10 to 12 hours if an emergency were to occur. New York State has mandated that municipalities should have at least 24 hours worth of water reserves on hand.

A new water tank, at least triple the capacity of the current tank, is estimated to cost about $5 million.

New York Senator Charles Schumer has been in talks with village officials to find funding for the tank. Trustees have also been fishing for funds from Albany. They noted that the handover of GM will likely include a payment for a new water tank as part of the negotiations. However, none of these potential off-setting revenue sources have been secured yet.

Most of the projects on the list would be funded through long-term municipal bonds. Smaller items would be paid for with Bond Anticipation Notes, which would then be lumped together with big ticket items when the village does go out for a bond.

But even though money is fairly cheap to borrow for municipalities at this point, the thought of that much long-term debt had some trustees asking what was necessary to purchase.

"This, all the way through, represents wish lists for the various departments correct?" Trustee Karin Wompa said.

"It's stuff they are going to need," DiGiacomo said. "I am sure there are other things that are really wishes that they are not going to need."

The list of capital projects will now be sent to the various village committees to debate the merits of the purchases, and the order of of each item's priority.

"It looks like the committees have a lot of work in front of them," Mayor Ken Wray said.

Trustees Discuss Water Rate Increases

Trustees again discussed raising water rates in the village on Tuesday.

Water rates in both Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown are being raised due to increases leveraged by New York City's Water Board (full story here). The water board has raised the rates it charges for water in Westchester by 44 percent over the last three years.

Overall, water rates in the village will be raised about 5.29 percent, but that means different amounts for property owners – Sleepy Hollow uses a tiered system for water billing that is based on usage.

During the meeting, trustees specifically wanted to look at what it would take to keep sewer rates stagnant. Typically, sewer rates increase with water rates – sewer is calculated at 16.5 percent of a water bill.

DiGiacomo said that this year's budget was already based on a sewer rate set at 16.5 percent. She said trustees would have to discuss the matter next year during budget season if they wanted to lower expenses to cover the shortfall of a modified sewer fee. DiGiacomo said she also wanted to do a more thorough cost analysis to see how much the village was paying on sewer maintenance and if the rising fees for sewer rates were justified.

Overages were also a touchy subject. The village pays for water based on old census data. New York City gives the village a set amount of water, at a low rate, based on the amount of people who live in the village. Each month, the village inevitably goes over their allotted water amount, whether that be through waste or the uncalculated population. In May, for example, there was over $42,000 the village paid in water overages, and that wasn't even the beginning of the hot summer when water usages increased.

Wompa asked if new census numbers would likely increase the amount of water the village received at the base rate from New York City, therefor reducing the amount of overages the village incurs. DiGiacomo said that was a likely outcome of the 2010 census.

Trustees were also concerned about the two biggest users of water in the village – the school district and Phelps Hospital. Phelps alone uses roughly 12 percent of the water in the village, the schools a bit less.

Trustees noted these organizations helped the village go over their allotted water amounts each month, but because Phelps is a non-profit, and 70 percent of the school are in Sleepy Hollow, local taxpayers were stuck paying for the overages the institutions help incur. 

Village Hall Closed Monday

Village Hall will be closed on Monday for Columbus Day. It will reopen on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.

Special Session

Trustees held a special session at the end of the work session. The special session allowed them to pass a resolution despite it not being a formal trustee meeting.

In the special session, trustees approved two new hires for the village recreation department: Laura Downing and Robert Pell, son of Recreation Director Robin Pell. Both will be working part time in the village's Morse after-school program at a rate of $12 an hour.