N-ELBA TAX LEVY TO DECREASE THREE PERCENT

The tax levy for the Town of North Elba will decrease by more than 3 percent next year in a budget adopted by the town board Tuesday evening.

Property taxes account for about 43 percent of the town’s $8.9 million budget for fiscal year 2008.

The tax rate for town residents inside the Village of Lake Placid will be about $1.50 per $1000 of assessed property value.  North Elba residents in the Village of Saranac Lake will pay less than 85 cents per $1000.  Town residents outside the villages will have a tax rate at roughly $2.19 per $1,000.

The figures are not exact since the town, in a last minute move before adopting the budget, voted to increase its contribution from the general fund to $250,000 which will offset the $3.8 million tax levy and bring property taxes down further.

Elected town officials will receive a four percent pay increase across the board. The town also moved eight of its employees from a 35- to 40-hour work week, which has been projected to cost more than $38,700.

Aside from Supervisor-elect Roby Politi who asked a technical question on how the budget was itemized, the only speakers during the public hearing were Saranac Lake Adult Center volunteers.

For more than a decade, the not-for-profit senior organization has received $700 a year from the town to help run its meal and recreation services for Saranac Lake-area seniors – many of whom they said reside in North Elba.

Earlier, the adult center had requested its funding be increased up to as much as $5,000, though the board elected not to increase its annual contribution in the 2008 budget.

Supervisor Shirley Seney told the volunteers it was too late to change the budget, though she later conceded that their request had been received prior to the September 1 deadline.

 “We're feeling a real severe financial crisis,” Treasurer Marilyn Clement of the Adult Center told the board. “We need all of the help we can get.”

Seney and the rest of the board appeared unmoved. “You did submit the request but it's too late to change it,” Seney said.

Councilman Jack Favro asked how many of the adult center's seniors resided in the Town of North Elba. Clement replied that of the 100 core active members, about 20 are North Elba town residents who live in Saranac Lake or Ray Brook – too far for them to take advantage of the Essex County services in Lake Placid.

It is not unheard of for Lake Placid seniors to take advantage of the recreational programs such as day trips, she added. The adult center's bus needs replacing and they’re looking for ways to raise $55,000 for the new vehicle as well as keep up with the rising cost of heating oil and fuel.

There was no further discussion and Seney thanked the volunteers for their time.

“I was expecting there to be some discussion,” said Elizabeth Kochar, the adult center’s director. “But it was just closed.”

In other town business, the board tabled a motion to split the transfer station from the highway department. Seney introduced the motion to make the transfer station autonomous from the highway department.

Councilman Jack Favro said that making the transfer station autonomous would give it more flexibility to improve its recycling programs. Councilman Derek Doty suggested the transfer station look at accepting green waste which could be converted into commercial mulch to add a revenue stream for the town.

But Councilmen Chuck Damp and Jay Rand said it was the first they'd heard of the concept and asked the matter be tabled for more study.

The rest of the board agreed and the motion was withdrawn.

-Jacob Resneck

TAXES DROPPING IN TUPPER LAKE TOWN BUDGET

Taxes will be going down as part of the 2008 budget approved Tuesday by the Tupper Lake Town Board.

After a sparsely attended public hearing, town board members unanimously approved the $1.1 million dollar budget. Councilman John Button was absent from the meeting.

The budget includes over $530,000 to be raised by taxes.

The tax rate for town residents outside the village will decrease 25 cents to $4.42 per thousand dollars of assessed property value. For town residents in the Village of Tupper Lake the tax rate will fall 23 cents to $3.15 per thousand.

Town board members attributed most of the drop in taxes to an increase in property assessments. The total assessed value in the town increased by roughly $6 million. “That helped to lower taxes,” said Supervisor Roger Amell. 

The board also applied $200,000 in fund balance to the budget to reduce the tax levy even more. Town officials also are anticipating $16,000 in extra revenue from interest earned by switching the town’s accounts from Community Bank to Citizen’s Bank.

An additional $18,500 from the sale of town land to organizers of the Adirondack Public Observatory also helped to lower the budget. And worker’s compensation costs are also down by roughly $20,000.

Increased expenses in the 2008 budget include $134,000 more for fire services since the town and village agreed to equalize fire protection rates earlier this year. Now all Tupper Lake residents pay .63 cents per thousand dollars.

Supervisor Roger Amell was happy with the final product. “Hopefully everyone in the town is pleased with [the budget],” said Amell. “We did work pretty hard on it.”

The town board also allocated $9,400 for animal control services.

Some people in the community have been urging the town to contract with the Tri-Lakes Humane Society to provide animal control. Councilwoman Kathy Lefebvre had recently met with officials from the humane society.

But, town board members say the non-profit wants too much money - $9,000 a year. And, they argue, since the town has its own shelter it doesn’t make financial sense to house animals at another location.

Lefebvre said the humane society agreed to grant the town a six-month trial at $4,500.  But she didn’t think the idea had much support. “For now I think it’s a dead issue,” Lefebvre said.

Amell said it isn’t the town’s business to care for people’s animals. “We’re not a daycare center for dogs,” he said.

Councilman Shawn Stuart said he would be in favor of sending Animal Control Officer Bill Moody to additional training and working to hold pet owners more accountable. “I hope we have stricter guidelines with our dog control officer in enforcing the fines and holding the owner of the pet responsible,” he said. “If there is some training that’s available that he can go to, to make his job better I would send him to it.”

The board also pledged to provide Moody with any equipment he needs to better do his job.

Town tax bills, which include county taxes, are sent out January 1 and are due by the end of the month.

-Mike Fritts

NEW TRAFFIC LIGHT WELCOMED IN TUPPER LAKE

Motorists commuting to or from Tupper Lake today may notice a new traffic light at the intersection of state Routes 3 and 30 and Hosley Avenue.

Crews from the state Department of Transportation have been working recently to install the signal at the intersection, after several years of requests from local leaders.

Village, town and school officials have been lobbying the DOT to get a light installed at the busy intersection.  Hosley Avenue is home to the LP Quinn Elementary School and Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks.  Sunmount Developmental Disabilities Center is also nearby.

The intersection can become very congested especially when Sunmount employees get out of work around the same time as the end of the school day at the elementary school.

Tupper Lake School District Superintendent Dan Bower said he was pleased the DOT finally granted their request.  He said the traffic issues at the corner have created a “dangerous situation.”

“We’re happy that the state saw the need to install the light there,” he said. “We’ve asked them to look at it several times and now with the increased traffic for the museum as well I think they realized it was finally time to do something there.”

The school district and the Wild Center wrote a joint letter several years ago asking the DOT to consider a traffic light for the intersection.

DOT Region 7 spokesman Michael Flick said they took another look at the intersection this past fall and subsequently decided a signal was needed. “The traffic volumes are such that a traffic signal was warranted,” he said.

The traffic signal is also equipped with pedestrian crossing signs and push buttons to allow people to safely cross the intersection.

Flick said the signal would be turned on today. It will be flashing for a day to alert motorists that it’s there.

Tupper Lake Police Chief Tom Fee was also pleased to see the light being installed. He said he hopes it will slow inbound traffic. “The speeds that we get coming in are 50 to 55 mph,” he said. “It should slow traffic down.”

Chief Fee also said there’s a lot of congestion in the area during peak times of the day. He said with the new signal he won’t have to worry about having an officer available to direct traffic during school dismissal. “That’s something that’s going to be off my mind now,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the light being there,” he said.

Bower also hoped the light would slow traffic.  “The tendency is to pick up speed there,” he said. “Hopefully that will slow traffic down as well.”

-Mike Fritts

RILEY GAINS 80 VOTES IN JUSTICE RACE

Howard Riley has picked up an additional 80 votes, but the race for Town of Harrietstown Justice is still too close to call.

Democratic Franklin County Election Commissioner Kathy Fleury said Tuesday that the number of votes Riley received from one district on election night had been reported as three. 

But, after the machines were checked, election inspectors found he actually received 83 votes from that district.

That means Riley collected an unofficial 457 votes on election night.  His opponent, Elizabeth Nicastro received 447 votes.

With more than 60 absentee ballots that have yet to be counted, the justice race is still too close to call. 

Absentees may also affect the outcome of the race for a second Harrietstown Town Board seat where Democrat Dean Naegle has a 16 vote lead over fellow Democrat Mary Hotaling.

Fleury said the Harrietstown absentee ballots will be counted November 19.

The race for Tupper Lake mayor will also be decided by a count of absentee ballots on the following day, November 20.  Incumbent Mickey Desmarais, an independent, leads Republican challenger Tim Larkin by six votes.

-Chris Knight

THREE INJURED IN SCAFFOLDING COLLAPSE AT PRISON

Three construction workers were injured Tuesday when two flights of scaffolding collapsed at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

State prison officials say the incident occurred around 1 p.m. inside the new medical unit at the prison.  The scaffolding fell about ten feet leaving the three workers, who are employed by a private contractor, with minor injuries.

Prison fire and safety personnel were investigating the cause of the collapse along with the workers union representatives.

Dannemora Fire Department members also responded to the incident.

Work on the new, four-story medical facility began in 2006 and is expected to be complete next year.

-Chris Knight

SCHUMER WANTS FASTER BORDER PASSAGE FOR FIREFIGHTERS

Senator Charles Schumer is calling on U.S. Customs and Border Protection to implement a system that will allow firefighters and other first-responders to be able to get across the border faster.

The request comes in the wake of a fire Sunday night at the Anchorage restaurant in Rouses Point.  Firefighters from Rouses Point and Champlain were the first to respond to the call.

Help was also summoned from eight other fire departments, including two in Quebec.  But the Canadian firefighters reportedly were held up by customs agents while trying to get across the border at Route 9B in Rouses Point.

It’s not known how long the delay lasted, but a Customs and Border Protection spokesman tells the Plattsburgh Press-Republican that the firefighters were only held up for eight minutes.  The status of one of the firefighters was reportedly being questioned.

Schumer, in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, recommended a permanent system be implemented to ensure first responders can cross the border quickly without compromising border security.

“Sunday’s blaze at the Anchorage restaurant has made it crystal clear that we need a better system for moving first responders across so that communities like Rouses Point can have the resources they need in life or death situations,” Schumer said.

-Chris Knight

POLICE REPORT

A teenager from Vermontville has been charged with a felony for allegedly making a bomb threat at the Saranac Lake Middle School.  Saranac Lake Police Sergeant Scott Thurber says the arrest was made after they received a call from school officials around 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday.  A staff member was told by a student that another student had made a bomb threat.  Patrols responded and conducted a sweep of the building to make sure there were no explosive devices inside, Thurber said.  Nothing was found.  Police secured statements from students and subsequently charged a 15 year-old male juvenile delinquent with first-degree falsely reporting an incident, a class D felony, at 7:30 p.m. last night.  The teen was processed at the police station and released to a parent for further action by family court.

State Police in Ray Brook arrested 45 year-old Alain Dumais of Saranac Lake at 12:30 a.m. today on charges of driving while ability impaired, speeding and failure to keep right.  Dumais was arrested after his vehicle was stopped on State Route 86 in the Town of Brighton.  He was processed and released to appear in town court on November 21.

A Saranac Lake resident is looking for help in locating a bag of books stolen from her vehicle.  The navy blue nylon bag containing Christian books was reportedly stolen from a truck parked in the municipal lot near the Saranac Lake Adult Center.  Anyone who finds the books is asked to contact the Saranac Lake Police Department.