{"id":108940,"date":"2019-09-04T13:41:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T17:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=108940"},"modified":"2019-09-04T13:41:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T17:41:47","slug":"lebanon-officials-to-discuss-2020-town-budget-sept-9-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=108940","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon officials to discuss 2020 town budget Sept. 9, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/meeting.png?resize=300%2C113&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/meeting.png?resize=300%2C113&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/meeting.png?resize=150%2C57&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/meeting.png?w=366&amp;ssl=1 366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Possible tax cap\noverride and status of road projects also to be discussed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Submitted by Supervisor\nJames Goldstein<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Town of Lebanon officials will discuss 2020 budget\nchallenges and possible override of the town tax cap at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 9, due\nto state actions that have caused loss of revenue for 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The meeting will be held at the Town Office, 1210 Bradley\nBrook Road, in the hamlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The public is invited to attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Topics to be focused on at the meeting include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>2020 budget and possibility that\nthe Town need a tax cap override local law for next year\u2019s budget or at least\nput one in place that the Town Board can choose to either rescind or not move\nforward on \u2013 the town would introduce the local law ideally at the October\nmeeting and adopt it at the November meeting prior to adopting the budget\nunless budget figures show it not necessary. The big concern right now is the\npotential loss of $17,000 in casino revenue Madison County has shared with the\ntown the &nbsp;last two years as well as a drop in county sales tax due to\nGovernor Cuomo\u2019s move to reduce sales tax in exchange for restoration of Aid to\nMunicipalities (AIM) for smaller towns like Lebanon.<\/li><li>The casino bill was approved in the\nState Senate but could not get through the Assembly this year.<\/li><li>Evaluation of fire and ambulance\ncontract requests as well as state retirement and other mandates that impact\n2020 budget numbers.<\/li><li>Briggs Road status as the town\nprepares to complete this three year state CHIPs funded project that has\nupgraded the road and added guardrail safety features.<\/li><li>County ice and snow agreement \u2013\nthere will be another increase to keep up with rising highway inputs of sand,\nsalt, fuel and wages\/state mandated benefits.<\/li><li>Most town officials have completed\nthe sexual harassment training \u2013 there are a handful who still need to take the\ntraining ideally before Oct. 1 by state mandate.<\/li><li>Consideration of whether or not the\nTown should act to improve its current &nbsp;windmill ordinance and add a solar\nfarm ordinance for very large solar farms given what is happening in Madison\nCounty to the town Land Management Local Law changes now being considered after\nseveral years of study and review.<\/li><li>There has been a significant\nincrease in large solar projects&#8211; the Town of Lenox has recently added three\nsolar farms and &nbsp;there is a massive 800 acre project proposed in the Town\nof Fenner that has the county looking at more solar farm regulations for large\nscale solar projects. The concern is loss of farmland and impact on the rural\nviewscape as well as wildlife. This would not apply to small projects,\nbusiness, home or farm solar projects. The Town of Lebanon &nbsp;would continue\nto simply require permits from the Code Enforcement Officer.<\/li><li>Status of code enforcement issues\nwith two pending cases.<\/li><li>Looking at schedule for equipment\npurchase and replacement schedule for 2020 and beyond.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the August town board meeting, Lebanon officials took the\nfollowing actions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Reappointed Assessor Brian Fitts to\nanother six year term along with the Towns of Georgetown and Eaton that are\npart of the Lebanon Coordinated Assessment program. A revaluation scheduled for\n2020 was discussed by Fitts and landowners will be initially notified of any\nchanges in their assessment by mail and will have an opportunity to meet with\nFitts prior to any final assessment roll, and then there will still be\nopportunities to question the assessment before Grievance Day, on Grievance Day\nto the Board of Assessment Review and the option for a filing in small claims\ncourt for those who want to pursue it that far.<\/li><li>Adopted a resolution honoring the\nWedge farm for 100 years and four generations of family farmers.<\/li><li>Heard from Bruce Rivington of\nKriemhild dairy on the finalization of the expansion of their butter plant and\nanticipating hiring up to 12 workers eventually &nbsp;as well as being able to\ntake some milk from local farmers for their butter plant. The expansion was\nassisted by a grant\/loan through New York State and the Partnership for\nCommunity Development.<\/li><li>Discussed the need to fill\nvacancies on the planning board and board of appeals that are currently open to\nany town resident.<\/li><li>Discussed finalizing some aspects\nof the proposed changes to the Land Management Local Law that have to do with\nreducing require road frontage for residences from 75 feet to 40 feet and also\nchanging the language in the law to stay current with the NYS Fire and Building\ncode.<\/li><li>Discussed the status of several code\nenforcement cases pending court action and completion of the Briggs Road CHIPs\nproject.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Madison County is having its tax auction Sept. 21. There are\ntwo properties from Lebanon on the auction block:&nbsp; 4545 South Lebanon Road\n\u2013 a single-family residence built in 1974; the other is rural vacant land on\nReynolds Hill Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 4545 South Lebanon Road home is occupied. &nbsp;The\nhouse and lot is assessed for $77,907.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you have any questions, email or call Supervisor James\nGoldstein at 315.837.4152 or 315.228.8982.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Possible tax cap override and status of road projects also to be discussed Submitted by Supervisor James Goldstein Town of Lebanon officials will discuss 2020 budget challenges and possible override of the town tax cap at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 9, due to state actions that have caused loss of revenue for 2019. The meeting will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/meeting.png?fit=366%2C138&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-sl6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}