Town of Olive

County of Ulster

State of New York

November 6, 2003

Minutes of a public hearing of the Town Board of the Town of Olive held Thursday, November 6, 2003, 7:30 pm at the Town Meeting Hall in Shokan, NY.  The purpose of the meeting as stated in the legal notice was to hear all in favor of or those opposed to any item or items contained in the 2004 Preliminary Budget.

Members Present:                  Berndt Leifeld, Supervisor

                                                Cindy Johansen, Council Member

                                                Helen Chase, Council Member

                        Bruce La Monda, Council Member

Linda Burkhardt, Council Member                 

Recording Secretary:  Sylvia Rozzelle, Town Clerk

Others Present:                      Janice Lanzarotta, Bookkeeper; Tom Planz, Fire Chief;     

                                                Henry Rank, Town Board Member Elect

Supervisor Leifeld presented the 2004 Preliminary Budget to the five persons present and asked for any comments. 

Supervisor Leifeld noted the following changes in the budget:

·         Budget items .1, personal services, will increase 2%

·         First Aid Unit increased from $70,000.00 to $72,500.00

·         General Fund NYS Retirement increased from $13,000.00 to $46,634.00 and Highway Fund NYS Retirement increased from $15,000.00 to $60,580.00

·         General Fund Hospitalization increased from $142,175.00 to $170,610.00 and Highway Fund Hospitalization increased from $145,946.00 to $160,552.00

·         $100,000.00 has been put into the Special Fire District line for the Fire Department Service Awards Program

Supervisor Leifeld submitted informational sheet #76-03 noting the following increases:

·         General Fund tax rate increase of approximately 4.4%, from $146.5944 to $153.0621 per thousand

·         Highway Fund tax rate increase of approximately 5.9%, from $155.6150 to $164.8030 per thousand

·         Special Fire District tax rate increase of approximately 30.88%, from $48.6760 to $63.7053 per thousand.

All persons present having been heard regarding the budget Supervisor Leifeld recognized Council Member La Monda for comments regarding the recent phone outages in parts of Olive.   Council Member La Monda stated that Art Snyder, UC Emergency Management Director, phoned him regarding the phone outages since Supervisor Leifelds phone is one of those not working.  Council Member La Monda stated that Mr. Snyder was very concerned about Verizons response to rectifying the problem.  Therefore, on a La Monda/Leifeld motion the Town Board approved sending correspondence #77-03 to the Public Service Commission regarding Verizons unacceptable response to fixing the problem.

On a Leifeld/Burkhardt motion the Town Board unanimously approved adjourning to executive session at 7:55 pm regarding union negotiations.  He stated the town and union have reached an impasse and are currently in arbitration.   Roll vote being:  Johansen, yes; Chase, yes; La Monda, yes; Burkhardt, yes; and Leifeld, yes.  Town Board Member elect Henry Rank was asked by the Town Board to enter the executive session. 

The Town Board reconvened the regular meeting at 8:30 pm at which time they adjourned to on a Leifeld/La Monda motion.

                                                            Sylvia Rozzelle, Town Clerk