April 1, 2024 Budget Workshop

Mayor James M. Jaroszynski
Trustee Anthony Cavallaro
Trustee Timothy Dunn
Trustee Alan Gustafson, Jr.
Trustee Annette Miller

Cindy Capestrani, Village Clerk
Paula Spunaugle, Treasurer
Carl Caprino, DPW Superintendent

The Budget Workshop of the Village of Falconer Mayor and Board of Trustees was held on Monday, April 1, 2024 at 5:30 P.M. in the Falconer Public Library with Mayor James Jaroszynski presiding.

Pledge of Allegiance & Roll:

Trustee Gustafson, Trustee Dunn, Trustee Cavallaro, Trustee Miller and Mayor Jaroszynski were all present.

Visitors

Chris Blakeslee – Post Journal

Nina Gustafson

PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR

VISITORS ARE ALLOWED A MAXIMUM OF THREE (3) MINUTES TO ADDRESS THE BOARD. THIS IS NOT THE TIME OR PLACE FOR A DEBATE. IT IS A MEETING FOR THE BOARD TO CONDUCT VILLAGE BUSINESS. ALL COMPLAINTS/REQUESTS WILL BE CONSIDERED AND REVIEWD AT A LATER TIME.

2024/2025 Budget Workshop

Mayor Jaroszynski noted that the board had received the proposed budget at the last board meeting for review. The 24/25 budget reflects a real property tax rate of $8.58/$1000 of assessment, which is a proposed tax increase of $0.106. This proposed increase is within the limits of the NYS Property Tax Cap Law.

Proposed Budget 2024-2025 as presented

Appropriations	$1,650,543
Revenues	$1,650,543
Balanced Budget	($0)

Thank you to Trustee Gustafson for providing a more detailed line-item chart and to Treasurer Spunaugle and all of the department heads for all of the work putting the budget together. The budget will be adopted at the board meeting on Tuesday, April 9^th at 6pm at the Fireman’s Exempt Hall.

Line-Item Review

Key points brought up in the discussion regarding the line-items:

Animal Control

Includes funds to continue the feral cat program and also the buildings monthly pest control spraying.

Fire Station – Telephone & Internet

Trustee Dunn would like to meet with Southern Tier Graphics to see if they can set up one network to cover the Community Building, Library, DPW and Firehall for possible savings for having 4 separate bills.
Would like to look at other internet providers to get the best service/price.

DPW Garage

The floor in the Fireman’s Exempt kitchen and entryway is deteriorating. The fire association is asking if the village can assist in the replacement since the building is village owned. The Fire Association will begin the process and obtain quotes to present to the board.
DPW equipment – according to the recommended replacement schedule there are 8 pieces of equipment that are overdue to be replaced. The Catepillar Grader is 15 years overdue but we do not use it often. As long as we keep it maintained it can wait to be replaced so that we can replace pieces of equipment that are a higher priority and used on a regular basis.
The 2004 Internation 7600 Dump Truck is due to be replaced this year. There have been a lot of repairs made to the dump truck recently. The approximate time frame for delivery on a new dump truck is a year and a half with a current cost of $312K. The 24/25 budget does not account for any new street equipment currently.
Once we close out this fiscal year, we will know if we have any surplus that can be allocated to the street equipment fund. That will indicate when we will have enough money saved to order any equipment without having to use bonds for the purchase. The proposed budget is within the limits of the NYS Property Tax Cap and no on advocates going past the tax cap.
We may need to increase contributions to the equipment fund to plan for future purchases. Currently 39K is budgeted annually to the equipment fund. The current street equipment fund is at $100,159.
The 2013 Chevrolet Utility Dump Truck that was due to be replaced in 2022 has very low mileage so we should do what needs to be fixed on it to give us several more years and replace the equipment that has been costing more money in repairs.
The street sweeper has had many repair issues recently and is currently 2 years over the replacement schedule.
Superintendent Caprino will present equipment replacement costs at the next board meeting with trade-in values on existing equipment as well as his recommendation for the highest need.

Park & Recreation

We will be considering replacing the tennis courts with pickleball courts in the next few years, looking at our options and any grant opportunities.
The new shed for Falconer Park is in and will be paid out of the ARPA funds.

Beautification Fund

Includes building landscaping and flowers.
Some areas of the village could use new trees planting if we could find money in the budget.

Transfers

The Fire Truck & Command Vehicle Reserve transfer amount includes the increase recommended by the Fire Advisory Board.

Mayor Jaroszynski noted that the proposed budget is a sound budget. There will be a Budget Public Hearing on Tuesday, April 9^th at 6pm in the Fireman’s Exempt Hall.

Trustee Dunn made a motion, seconded by Trustee Gustafson to adjourn the budget workshop at 6:46 pm. Ayes-all. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Capestrani, Village Clerk

April 3, 2023 Budget Workshop

Mayor James M. Jaroszynski
Trustee Anthony Cavallaro-excused
Trustee Timothy Dunn
Trustee Alan Gustafson, Jr.
Trustee Annette Miller

Cindy Capestrani, Village Clerk
Paula Spunaugle, Treasurer
Lawrence E. Trask – Deputy Treasurer
Bryce Webster, Fire Chief
Carl Caprino, DPW Superintendent
Laurie Becker, Library Director

The Budget Workshop of the Village of Falconer Mayor and Board of Trustees was held on Monday, April 3, 2023 at 6:00 P.M. in the Falconer Public Library with Mayor James Jaroszynski presiding.

Pledge of Allegiance & Roll:

Trustee Gustafson, Trustee Dunn, Trustee Miller and Mayor Jaroszynski were all present.

Visitors –

no visitors present

PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR

2023/2024 Budget Workshop

Mayor Jaroszynski noted the board had received the preliminary budget at the last board meeting for review and asked the department heads to attend tonight’s workshop so that they could answer any questions that the board may have.

Department of Public Works

A report with DPW projects for budget consideration, equipment repairs and a major equipment replacement schedule was reviewed.

Key points brought up in the discussion regarding the reports:

Need to get major equipment replacement schedule back on track as we are behind in replacing, do not want to spend money on costly repairs or have equipment down when needed.
Type of street sweeper we use is very expensive, only made by one manufacturer, should look at alternative machines as sweeper was due to be replaced in 2018/2019.
Money going into equipment reserves need to be looked at and possibly increased due to increase in costs of new equipment to make sure we have money to cover future needs. Projected large equipment expenses should have reserve fund.
Prefer to pay upfront for equipment to avoid paying interest on loans.
Suggestion made to get trade value of existing equipment, availability, price of new equipment, and equipment life to help develop an updated replacement schedule.
Can allocate from fund balance or can use surplus in sales tax to transfer into the equipment reserve or the community building reserve, predicting there will be a surplus at end of this fiscal year from what was budgeted.
With a lighter winter this year should have surplus in plow blade, road salt and diesel fuel accounts that will be going back into the street equipment account.
Looking on getting summer help to start by mid-May. They mainly will be keeping up with all of the mowing on village properties.
Need to start back on sidewalk replacement and allocating to a sidewalk reserve fund.
In the past, the DPW department used to have 4 full time workers plus superintendent. Current budget can afford to hire another full time DPW worker. This will help get back on track with sidewalk replacement instead of paying an outside company to replace sidewalks.
Superintendent Caprino to extend equipment replacement schedule out to year 2050 and bring costs for new equipment for review at May board meeting.
Tires are needed for backhoe if not replacing, was due to be replaced 2019/2020. Board agreed they should be replaced as backhoe is fine otherwise.
Loader tires could go for one more year.
Sidewalk plow tracks can wait until we get resale prices to see if it worth getting new tracks or replacing tracks and keeping sidewalk plow for a few more years.
DPW building exterior painting needs to be done, last painted about 14 years ago. Superintendent Caprino requested to get quotes. It was also suggested to also get quotes on siding front and sides to compare with painting quotes. Siding will save from having to continue to paint every 10-15 years. Can possibly use ARPA funds.
Need to decide on chimney quotes to lock in someone to do the work as soon as boiler can be shut down. Superintendent Caprino to request quotes for next board meeting.
Single axle truck that has been on order for 2 years is still not built. Since we did not have formal quote or purchase order, will need to get new quotes. Money was accrued for truck so if we start over with new quotes, we can apply that money to painting DPW building.
Full time code officer was added in the budget. The board agrees that there is a need for one to keep up with all of the property issues within the village. A full-time code officer could also conduct fire inspections in the village which is also needed.

Library

Library door and entrance can use bullet aid to get done now and replaced if the state aid comes in that was applied for
The general fund covers expenses and repairs for the library.
Laurie and Sandy do a great job getting grants and donations to help with the expenses. They have visited 17 libraries in the system so far this spring and are very grateful for the assistance they receive from the village.

Fire Department

Operating expenses running tight partly due to inflation and part due to retro-fitting Engine 402 to extend life of truck another 5 years. Possibly that expense should have been taken out of the reserve as it related to fire truck expense.
Fire advisory board recommended going 2% to operating expenses, 5% to reserve as they can review more closely what comes out of the reserve account and with the increased costs of trucks, we need to build the reserve for future truck replacements.
Currently going through trucks to update schedule to get back on schedule. Last year costs of fire trucks increased over 26%. Fire Advisory Board looking at costs of new versus replacement time and resale value of current equipment.
FEMA grant applied for 24 sets of turnout gear.
SAFER grant applied for to assist with recruitment/retention and bolster the Jr. Program.
Community Foundation grant applied for to replace firehall kitchen cabinet doors.
Garage doors and receivers need to be replaced – currently have quote for $6,320 for all 4 doors installed. Deputy Treasurer Trask suggested using operating expenses, the expense to the village is reduced due to shared expenses with the Town of Ellicott.
Checking with Cummins Engine for a price on a new generator – approx. 17K, much less than a Caterpillar brand originally looking at. Need to contact grant writer to assist in writing a grant for this. Deputy Treasurer Trask suggested taking the expense out of the building reserve so that 55% of expense is shared with Town of Ellicott. Chief Webster would like to have a roof put over the area of the generator and A/C unit to protect during winter months.

General

The new Animal Control contract will be at the current contracted price with Belin Security who has announced his retirement. The budget was increased anticipating a higher contract and to include a feral cat program.
Trustee Gustafson has noticed quite a few pieces of playground equipment are broken. In the future we should be looking to do a major overhaul with the playground and get Rotary involved as they have assisted in the past.

Trustee Dunn made a motion, seconded by Trustee Gustafson to adjourn the budget workshop at 8:10 pm. Ayes-all. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Capestrani, Village Clerk