At Tuesday's Saratoga Springs City Council meeting both Mayor Scott Johnson and Commissioner of Public Safety Ron Kim discussed the future of stimulus funding for projects in Saratoga Springs.
During the Mayor's agenda, Johnson said on Feb. 20 Kim, Saratoga County
Supervisor Joanne Yepsen, City Engineer Paul Male, Administrator of
Planning and Economic Development Bradley Birge and he attended a
meeting at the governor's office that outlined the potential impact of
the economic stimulus bill which is supposed to bring in approximately
$24 billion to New York State over the next two years. During that
meeting the governor's office indicated to city officials that a
substantial portion of the funding would be funneled through various
state agencies, primarily the Department of Transportation, for
shovel-ready projects.
"The good news for the city of Saratoga Springs is that we are on a list for a number of projects that have been deemed by the DOT as being eligible projects for this funding," Johnson said.
He added that one of the criteria for funding is that the projects have to be shovel-ready or they do not qualify under the stimulus bill.
"Even though our city does have certain needs that aren't shovel-ready, they do not qualify under this stimulus," he said.
While certain projects won't be funded under the bill because they are not shovel-ready, the five projects that have been identified through the DOT and the Capital District Transportation Committee for funding include The Church St. reconstruction project (1.65 million), the Spring Run Trail (1.5 million), The Saratoga County Route 43 Geyser Road bridge (1.5 million), Saratoga Bus Garage (1.5 million) and the Ballston Ave reconstruction project (1.3 million).
"I think overall it is at least good news on certain projects that we in the city have been trying to advance for quite some time, but have been unable to do so based on economic restraints," he said. "With that said we are pursuing all the projects that have been listed and we are doing all we can do at this point to make sure that they are not only ready, but available and certainly on the list for consideration as the money gets doled out by the federal government or more importantly trickles down through New York State."
During the Public Safety agenda, Kim said the department would be applying for state grants to acquire funding for a broad band network for the public safety department - a project Yepsen has been spearheading, Kim said.
He said the idea is to have a broad-band network constructed in the city to allow police, fire and EMS services to utilize it. He added as an off shoot to that it would also be an unsecure but free web service for the public.
This was something we started last year but like many projects there was no funding. Albany has a similar broad band network in place for their public safety department.
Kim also said that he was not optimistic about acquiring stimulus funding for the public safety building or the East Side Fire/EMS station.
"The reason we are not terribly optimistic is because we have been told bricks and mortar will not be funded, but when you look at the website with all the projects that other municipalities are applying for, you see a lot of police and fire stations so we will be working with various agencies to make sure they know of our needs and hopefully we will see some funding," he said.
While news about the stimulus funding was mostly positive, during the Public Works agenda the Council voted 4-1 in favor of raising water and sewer rates for the 2009 budget - Commissioner of Finance Ken Ivins was the only one to vote against the rate increase.
Prior to the vote, Ivins said he was torn on the issue and wanted to see the budget balanced but didn't want to see more than a three percent tax hike.
"During these tough economic times voting for a five percent increase is making me feel uncomfortable," he said.
Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco defended the rate hike saying that the reason for the increase was because last year the city experienced a rainy season that prevented people from purchasing as much water as they had budgeted for.
"We would like to see a tax decrease but we are even going to have a shortfall with the five percent increase," he said. "We could have made it a 10 percent increase but we didn't want to do that. In the scheme of things we are looking at a $1.40 increase for 75,000 gallons of water - we are not talking about a major increase here."
Scirocco added that the department hoped to make up for the shortfall through sales during the summer season.
Most people will see about a five percent increase or about 1.45 per thousand gallons. However, customers consuming more than 25,000 cubic feet of water (187,500 gallons) will see a six percent increase in their water bill - this makes up less than six percent of the city's customer base.
Sewer rates will see a five percent increase for all users.
"The good news for the city of Saratoga Springs is that we are on a list for a number of projects that have been deemed by the DOT as being eligible projects for this funding," Johnson said.
He added that one of the criteria for funding is that the projects have to be shovel-ready or they do not qualify under the stimulus bill.
"Even though our city does have certain needs that aren't shovel-ready, they do not qualify under this stimulus," he said.
While certain projects won't be funded under the bill because they are not shovel-ready, the five projects that have been identified through the DOT and the Capital District Transportation Committee for funding include The Church St. reconstruction project (1.65 million), the Spring Run Trail (1.5 million), The Saratoga County Route 43 Geyser Road bridge (1.5 million), Saratoga Bus Garage (1.5 million) and the Ballston Ave reconstruction project (1.3 million).
"I think overall it is at least good news on certain projects that we in the city have been trying to advance for quite some time, but have been unable to do so based on economic restraints," he said. "With that said we are pursuing all the projects that have been listed and we are doing all we can do at this point to make sure that they are not only ready, but available and certainly on the list for consideration as the money gets doled out by the federal government or more importantly trickles down through New York State."
During the Public Safety agenda, Kim said the department would be applying for state grants to acquire funding for a broad band network for the public safety department - a project Yepsen has been spearheading, Kim said.
He said the idea is to have a broad-band network constructed in the city to allow police, fire and EMS services to utilize it. He added as an off shoot to that it would also be an unsecure but free web service for the public.
This was something we started last year but like many projects there was no funding. Albany has a similar broad band network in place for their public safety department.
Kim also said that he was not optimistic about acquiring stimulus funding for the public safety building or the East Side Fire/EMS station.
"The reason we are not terribly optimistic is because we have been told bricks and mortar will not be funded, but when you look at the website with all the projects that other municipalities are applying for, you see a lot of police and fire stations so we will be working with various agencies to make sure they know of our needs and hopefully we will see some funding," he said.
While news about the stimulus funding was mostly positive, during the Public Works agenda the Council voted 4-1 in favor of raising water and sewer rates for the 2009 budget - Commissioner of Finance Ken Ivins was the only one to vote against the rate increase.
Prior to the vote, Ivins said he was torn on the issue and wanted to see the budget balanced but didn't want to see more than a three percent tax hike.
"During these tough economic times voting for a five percent increase is making me feel uncomfortable," he said.
Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco defended the rate hike saying that the reason for the increase was because last year the city experienced a rainy season that prevented people from purchasing as much water as they had budgeted for.
"We would like to see a tax decrease but we are even going to have a shortfall with the five percent increase," he said. "We could have made it a 10 percent increase but we didn't want to do that. In the scheme of things we are looking at a $1.40 increase for 75,000 gallons of water - we are not talking about a major increase here."
Scirocco added that the department hoped to make up for the shortfall through sales during the summer season.
Most people will see about a five percent increase or about 1.45 per thousand gallons. However, customers consuming more than 25,000 cubic feet of water (187,500 gallons) will see a six percent increase in their water bill - this makes up less than six percent of the city's customer base.
Sewer rates will see a five percent increase for all users.
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