February 2009

GROVELAND NEWSLETTER,

JIM MERRICK, SUPERVISOR

**************************

Wow it has been cold! Hope you are staying warm.  It is that time of year again to bring you up to date on our town and county news.

Town: What steps have been taken to curb expenses during our recession?

• First let me tell you Groveland has the lowest tax rate of the 17 towns in Livingston County.
• Good money management and the ability to plan ahead.
• Our budget for 2009 has monies for a new truck and snow equipment. Our Highway Supt., Greg Adamson is trying to locate 2 good used units to replace our 2 oldest units that have between 400,000 to 500,000 miles on them.
• We have enrolled in the Bureau of Federal Property Assistance for the purchase of surplus equipment.
• I have asked Department Heads to stay within their 2009 budgets.
• We are currently looking at items that might qualify for the new Presidents proposed stimulus package.
• I am meeting and writing letters to our Senators and Assemblymen and asking them not to cost shift NYS problems to the towns and counties.
• We are proposing leasing our Conesus Lake Water District to our Livingston County Water & Sewer Authority, to avoid expensive costs to our Water District.
• We are pursuing all available grants.
• With all this I am proud to say we have not cut out any services.

CountyLevel:

• We have submitted many “shovel ready” projects to the Governor’s office in hopes that some of them will be selected for the package proposed by our new President
• The county has also enrolled in the Bureau of Federal Property Assistance Program for the purchase of surplus equipment.
• Even at the county level no services have been cut.

Ambuscade Park:  The pavilion is available to reserve through the Town Clerk for any occasion. The summer dates book quickly!

Groveland Fire Department:Only one more pancake breakfasts left to attend. If you haven’t gotten to one, you should go. They provide a great breakfast and the new building is worth seeing. March 8^th is the last one.

Groveland Highway Department:

It has been another busy year for our Highway Department with all the wind and snow. They have managed to get started on Barber Hill Road between Maple Beach Road and Hunt Hill Road with some tree removal.

            With utilizing the Federal Surplus program in 2008, Greg purchased $166,211.33 worth of items and equipment for a mere $9,095. What a huge help for our budgets.

Did you know that it is illegal to push snow across the road and in the ditches? If an accident were to happen because of this, the homeowner is held liable for the accident.

Conesus Lake: We are preparing to lease this Water District to the County Water and Sewer Authority. These people already do our billing and the Town of Geneseo has maintained the operation and maintenance of the system. This proposal is subject to a permissive referendum. I hope the District will agree that his is the proper financial way to go mainly to help streamline water services in the County, which will stabilize future costs and standardize policy and procedures to make information and communications to our customers clearer and more easily understood.

Town Hall: The meeting hall will be renovated pending final grant approval sometime this year. This will include drywall, lighting, new carpeting. Keep in mind that a Justice grant was applied for this project and not a budgeted town item. Once final approval is given please bear with us until the project is complete. If you see a sign “Please excuse our Dust” you will know we got the full grant.

Lake View Cemetery: As of January 1, 2009 this cemetery has turned over to the town. Please bear with us as this is a new venture for the town with an open cemetery. The town has much different rules to follow as to what the Association had to follow. Please refer your questions of burials, purchasing of plots to Greg Adamson until we finalize all the small details.

Points of Interest:

• The town website should be up and running by the time this letter is received. Things will continue to be added. Take a look at it by logging on to www.grovelandny.org
• I have included the salary chart that is part of the approved budget.
• Also, included is a town meeting schedule for the year, that might be helpful to have handed for the year.
• If you are someone who reads this newsletter and are not on the mailing list, and would to be. Please call the Town Clerk @ 243-1750.

In closing, thank you for your support over the past 18 years. Also, a thank you to the Livingston County Board of Supervisors for electing me as Chairman to the Board for the past 11 years.

Even with all this experience we can not tell you if Albany will make “Cost Shifts” from their budget to Livingston County or Town budgets. We are doing all we can to prevent this from happening! Who knows what other mandates will some as I have said many times, our Town & County are in GREAT financial shape. Please put up with me as we survive these cut backs and mandates.

            Make the best of the remainder of our winter and have a great summer!

Jim