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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Shawangunk unveils tentative spending plan
By TED REMSNYDER
Budget season has arrived for
Shawangunk, and the Town Board
unveiled a tentative 2019 spending plan
during its meeting on Oct. 4 that would
raise $4,670,986 from taxpayers. The state-
mandated tax cap for the municipality is
two percent, and the tentative budget that
was presented at the board’s first budget
work session is under the tax cap. Town
Supervisor John Valk explained that any
surplus under the cap would be applied to
the Highway Department budget line as
much as possible.
A top fiscal priority for the town
moving forward in the budget sessions
is to set aside funds for public building
improvements. “We want to have a
reserve for repairs for our buildings,”
Valk said. “If we can build that up, if
the roof blows off the highway garage
we have money to fix that. If something
happens to the police station and we have
to repair that, some catastrophe, we have
funds. Right now we have no reserve for
all of that. We used to have that, but when
the economy went south in 2008, we put
this building (Town Hall) up and we had
tight funds. Now we’re having a little bit
more surplus, so we need to look at the
infrastructure. That’s the goal. We don’t
know which building it is, but we need
to look at having something to repair the
buildings.”
Under the tentative budget, all of the
Walden Elementary playground to get upgrade
Photo provided
The playground at Walden Elementary School now sports a running track, basketball courts and an obstacle course.
If it takes a Village to raise a child, then
it takes a school community to create
fun outdoor space for children! Various
community and school members worked
collaboratively to upgrade Walden
Elementary School’s blacktop area so
that students have more activities while
out on recess. This major upgrade was
made possible by the Walden PTO, the
Walden Playground Committee, Valley
Central School District and several
donations from the school community.
The students at Walden are thrilled to
have a miniature football/soccer area, 2
basketball hoops, four square courts, an
obstacle course, funnel ball and more.
The mission for this playground was,
“To collectively create a playground
environment for all children of WES
to enjoy which consists of exercise,
creative expression, organized games,
unstructured play, and simply being a
KID.” We are happy to say that, with the
help of the entire Walden community,
this mission was accomplished.
Walden Elementary School would
like to thank everyone involved in
making this new playground a reality
for our students, as so many individuals
and community groups supported
this wonderful cause. In the end,
our students reap the benefits of our
community, as they will now have a
much more enjoyable space to spend
their time during recess.
- Gregory Heidemann, Principal
town’s non-union employees and elected
officials would receive a two percent raise
next year. The proposed budget would see
$1,531,761 in taxpayer funds raised for the
general townwide fund, with $1,771,307
raised for the Highway Department.
During Thursday’s meeting, the council
discussed the general fund, which includes
$50,076 for the Town Board, up from the
$49,096 figure in the 2018 adopted budget.
The budget for the Justice line is up to
$94,215, as compared to last year’s total of
$89,198, while expenses for the Assessor
are down to $60,112 from the 2018 total of
$61,066. The budget line for Buildings is
up from $71,065 in 2018 to $80,450 in the
tentative 2019 plan. The board hopes to
adopt the budget in November after the
upcoming work sessions are completed.
At the start of last week’s meeting,
Environmental Management Council
Chair David Haldeman gave a presentation
making his case for Shawangunk to join
the state’s Climate Smart Communities
initiative. Joining the program could
allow the town to combat climate chan ge
while also granting Shawangunk access
to additional state funding. “Climate
Smart Communities is basically a pledge,
at no cost, to say that when you’re looking
at your town you’re going to be conscious
of energy efficiencies,” Haldeman told
the board. “By doing that, by putting
some money into that and doing energy
assessments, by doing LED streetlights,
by looking at your fleet of vehicles,
whatever.”
The Town of Gardiner introduced
its Climate Smart Community Taskforce
last year, and Jason Mayer, head of that
group, informed the board that Gardiner
has already secured grants for vehicle
charging stations and a community
solarization campaign since becoming
a Climate Smart Community. Mayer
said that Gardiner is saving money by
converting its streetlights to LED bulbs,
and the town has also launched recycling
and composting projects.
Shawangunk is looking for residents
interested in working with EMC as part
of a potential taskforce that could be
a subset of the agency. Haldeman said
the town could potentially save money
by conducting energy assessments on
the town garage and the Walker Valley
Schoolhouse, among other projects. “We
need people that have a passion for a
smart climate and all of those things,”
Valk said. “That’s what Gardiner has.
They have a passion for it, and they’re
environmentally conscious. David is, but
there’s only a couple of people and we
need more people that want to see this
happen.”