Noble (center): “… an interest in examining consolidation …”
KINGSTON – The Kingston Common Council’s Finance and Audit
Committee held a special meeting Monday night, to pass two local proposals
in time for Tuesday’s June 2017 Common Council session. Their aim
is to partner with Ulster County for efforts at winning a $20 million
inter-municipal grant contest.
Six New York municipalities are semi-finalists in the competitive application process, including Ulster County. Other semi-finalists in the competitive grant application are Chautauqua County, Madison County, Montgomery County, Otsego County, and Town of Brookhaven.
Governor Cuomo’s idea is to reduce property tax burdens by developing new innovative shared services initiatives, utilizing smart growth methodology. The deadline for submitting proposals is June 28, with the winner getting the $20 million jackpot.
The tight timetable requires swift cooperation between the City of Kingston and Ulster County Executive Michael Hein’s office. The common council will not meet again until July 11, after the June 28 grant application deadline. July’s meeting is postponed one week due to the July 4 holiday.
“They’re applying for something called the Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Competition,” Kingston Mayor Steven Noble told to the Finance Committee. “It’s the dissolution of Ellenville, and other shared services,” he said of the Ulster County submission.
“Our resolution basically states that the city has expressed an interest in examining consolidation in the public transportation system with UCAT,” Noble said. “They [Ulster County] would kind of take over the day-to-day [bus] service, but we [the city] would be left with the all of that legacy costs, people who retired before us, on our books now that will eventually retire, medical costs, and all that. It’s a pretty big chunk of money for us. It says we’ll work together to try to merge, it doesn’t say we have to merge. In order for them to be successful in their grant application, they need to have willing communities participate. This would get us out of the bus business, without any future costs.”
The second special agenda item involves a wastewater treatment proposal
to tap into a chunk of the more inter-municipal grant money. New sewage
bio-mag iron filtration techniques allow improved removal of ammonia from
discharge into the Rondout Creek, reducing nitrate levels.
“This is not an inexpensive project, but it is something that we are going to have to do, unfortunately with the DEC requiring us,” Noble said. The project in total amounts to a $7.9 million construction estimate for Kingston, he said. In order to reduce those costs, with two years until new mandate standard begins, “we want to basically apply for every single grant we possibly can, so that by the time the DEC forces our hand to get this done, we’ll have as much money lined up as possible. This grant could help pay for up to 40 percent of the project,” Noble said.
In other related business, the Finance Committee held an executive session to discuss replacement of city comptroller John Tuey, who resigned last week. A half-hour of deliberation yielded no concrete decision or action on the matter.
The common council meets Tuesday night, where they are expected to approve purchase of two residential parcels adjacent to the sewer plant, for future expansion. The property will eventually need to be re-zoned back to industrial before it can be utilized for that purpose. Additionally, a public hearing has been scheduled for Thursday night, regarding the RUPCO project at the former Alms House on Flatbush Avenue.
