1 1 2 IN THE MATTER OF THE VILLAGE OF SAVONA BOARD MEETING 3 4 HELD VIA ZOOM CONFERENCE 5 APRIL 15, 2020 6 7 APPEARANCES: 8 Brian Scott, Mayor of the Village of Savona 9 Heather Swarthout, Savona Village Clerk 10 Mary Finch, Deputy Mayor, Trustee 11 Carl Peters, Jr., Trustee 12 Chris McCann, Trustee 13 Tina Carson, Trustee 14 Elizabeth Oklevitch, Esq., Village Attorney 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 TRANSCRIBED BY: DAWN K. SMITH, Transcriber 25 2 1 MAYOR SCOTT: Good evening. We'll just do a quick 2 roll call. Trustee McCann? 3 TRUSTEE McCANN: Here. 4 MAYOR SCOTT: Trustee Peters? 5 TRUSTEE PETERS: Here. 6 MAYOR SCOTT: Trustee Finch? 7 (NO RESPONSE). 8 MAYOR SCOTT: Trustee Carson? 9 TRUSTEE CARSON: I'm here. 10 MAYOR SCOTT: Mary, are you on the -- are you on, 11 Mary? 12 (NO RESPONSE). 13 MAYOR SCOTT: Did we lose Mary? 14 (NO RESPONSE). 15 MAYOR SCOTT: While we're waiting for Mary I will 16 read the legal ad that was published in the Corning Leader. 17 Pursuant to Section 5-50A of the village law, the tentative 18 budget for the Village of Savona has been prepared and filed 19 with the village clerk at the village office, 15 McCoy 20 Street, Savona, New York, where it may be inspected by any 21 interested parties via email request with more details on 22 the village website. The said tentative budget includes 23 maximum compensation for the mayor of five thousand, one 24 hundred and fifty dollars per annum, and eight thousand, six 25 hundred and ninety-three dollars and twenty cents for the 3 1 board of trustees per annum. A public hearing on the budget 2 will be held via Zoom conference call on Wednesday, April 3 15th, 2020 at 6 p.m. and consider same before final 4 adoption. At the time of said hearing, all prior email 5 communication and during call will be heard by order of the 6 village board submitted by Heather M. Swarthout, village 7 clerk treasurer. 8 So with that being said, we can now open the floor 9 to public speakers. Is there anybody else on the Zoom 10 conference call other than the board of trustees? 11 MS. OKLEVITCH: Your attorney is here by audio. 12 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: -- but I don't have public 13 comment. 14 MAYOR SCOTT: Justice Horton is here from the 15 village court, he is present. And do you have any 16 questions, comments or concerns while you are here, Mike? 17 JUSTICE HORTON: I think it's a good budget. 18 MAYOR SCOTT: Mary, did you find your way on? 19 (NO RESPONSE). 20 TRUSTEE PETERS: Do you want me to run over to her 21 house? 22 MAYOR SCOTT: She just talked to her on the phone. 23 I think we're just waiting for her to -- 24 TRUSTEE FINCH: Hello. 25 MAYOR SCOTT: Hi, Mary. Heather, she's here. 4 1 TRUSTEE FINCH: Sorry about that. I went back and 2 looked and I didn't see anything for today. 3 MAYOR SCOTT: No, you're fine. Heather, they're 4 all here. The floor is open to public comments. This also 5 includes any comments from the board members. Carl, I did 6 address your concern with Tina and Mary but if you would 7 like to now take the floor and go for it, it's all yours. 8 TRUSTEE PETERS: Okay. I apologize. Charlie seems 9 to be upset, I apologize. 10 MAYOR SCOTT: No worries. 11 TRUSTEE PETERS: I called Brian, just to back up a 12 little bit. When we did the tentative budget I said 13 reluctantly I voted yes and since then I did a lot of 14 thinking about it and went over the budget again and I -- as 15 the tentative budget stands right now I can't support that. 16 And the reason why is because I feel the tax increase at 3% 17 is excessive. My reasonings for that is not to -- you know, 18 New York State is a very high tax state and our county and 19 village, yada yada. The policy about increasing the budget 20 every year is it just picks away at senior citizens and 21 anyone on a fixed income, and it just keeps on going and 22 going and going. I realize inflation and stuff like that. 23 Now, so that's just basically the reason why I can't support 24 it. What I can see, if I said no, I've got to have a 25 solution, and my solution is one of two ways, or a 5 1 combination. Number one solution would be to cut some of 2 the items off from the expenditures. Looking at the budget 3 some areas we could do that is the infamous cameras in the 4 fire hall, trimming away at maybe some of the money on shade 5 trees, trimming away at some of the money on drainage 6 perhaps, trimming away at some of the money for the auto, 7 and I'm not talking about drastic, I'm just talking about 8 some out of each appropriation. The other solution would -- 9 I know we're taking X amount of money out of funds left over 10 from last year and that would be increasing that. Now, I 11 realize Chris had some valid concerns about doing, you know, 12 slowly picking away at that and Brian and I had a real good 13 conversation about that. So my question is, how much would 14 we have to reduce the taxable amount of money to get it 15 around 1%. I could support 1%. I'm sorry, folks, I can't 16 support 3. So that's kind of in a nutshell where I'm coming 17 from. 18 MAYOR SCOTT: To answer that question we're going 19 to have to get rid of about eighteen thousand dollars. 20 TRUSTEE PETERS: Okay. Now, Brian -- 21 MAYOR SCOTT: Can I ask you -- go ahead. 22 TRUSTEE PETERS: -- is that off from -- eighteen 23 thousand, that doesn't really kind of make sense to me 24 because we -- how much are we pulling out of this year's 25 budget, Brian? 6 1 MAYOR SCOTT: Right now we're pulling ten. 2 TRUSTEE PETERS: Ten. And that reduced it from 12 3 to 3%? 4 MAYOR SCOTT: I'm saying if we go with the budget 5 that we're at right now, the two hundred and six thousand 6 dollars, to get it down to 1% you're looking -- well, 7 actually to do that you're looking at nineteen thousand, 8 four hundred and forty dollars at the two hundred and six 9 thousand dollar budget mark. Now, Carl, let me ask you 10 another question. Would you also support the village not 11 putting eleven thousand dollars into a fire department 12 reserve fire truck this year? 13 TRUSTEE PETERS: Say that again, Brian, please. 14 MAYOR SCOTT: Right now the village -- and this is 15 out of the village fund, this is not out of the money that 16 we get from the Town of Bath, would you support skipping one 17 year of putting eleven thousand dollars in the fire truck 18 reserve fund, which means I'm not sure how we find eleven 19 thousand next year to put back in if you're cutting this 20 year's, but eleven thousand dollars is a huge chunk. That's 21 huge. And that's on top of the other expenses. And you 22 know, I agree, you can get rid of the cameras, you can cut 23 some of the shade trees, you can cut some of drainage, 24 that's fine. You know, I think if we're going to do that we 25 cut everywhere, and that's including the fire department, I 7 1 think that's including -- 2 TRUSTEE McCANN: The park. 3 MAYOR SCOTT: That includes everywhere. And you 4 know, my fear is you take money out of a budget to get it 5 down to 1%, you don't find that money next year to put it in 6 the budget -- because if you take eleven thousand out this 7 year, just saying, and you want to get it back next year, 8 where do you get that eleven thousand dollars from? And 9 that's -- having a conversation, and I'm not going to speak 10 for Mike because he's here tonight, but having a 11 conversation with Mike about our budget, if you stop and 12 look at our budget, we are not spending money anywhere where 13 money should not be spent. Our issue is, and Mike can 14 probably put that in better words, the Village of Savona's 15 problem, and this is going to be an ongoing problem for as 16 long as the village is here, in the current state that it's 17 in, is we have no revenue. We don't have any new houses 18 being built, and any land that can support a house is being 19 taken up with corn fields. You know, Lowrey's, that five 20 acre lot at the corner of Main Street and 415, South Street, 21 excuse me, you're talking -- you know, she wants a huge, 22 huge amount of money for that. There's a little bit of land 23 in the village that is corn over on Grove Street. He's not 24 going to sell that land for houses for development. 25 Dalrymple's, they're not selling that land for development. 8 1 They're sitting on a land mine over there. So we don't have 2 new houses being built, we don't have the luxury of offering 3 marriage licenses or hunting licenses. That's all done 4 through the town. That's not even something we can take 5 from the town. The state says the town provides marriage 6 licenses, and you know, our revenue is very, very, very 7 limited. And you know, the court makes us some money. Our 8 revenue from building permits is very little, very little. 9 You know, the revenue that Heather brings in is very 10 minimal. So to make a budget, unfortunately in the Village 11 of Savona, taxes is going to have to, unfortunately, be a 12 lot, you know. And Mike counted, the Village of Savona has 13 four revenue sources, four. So where do you make this up 14 without revenue? The house that was built on Lamoka, East 15 Lamoka, that Dennis and Betty (inaudible) built five years 16 ago, six years ago now, seven, that's the first new house 17 that's been built in Savona since probably you built over 18 there. I mean, (inaudible) put in that new place on West 19 Lamoka, but when was the last time a new house went into 20 Savona? There's no revenue. So this budget and the 21 spending, that I'm looking at, the spending in this budget 22 is, to me, bare bones. And to run the village and keep it 23 afloat, I think you have to look at where are you going to 24 get money other than revenue and taxes? And when you have 25 four revenue sources in the village, unfortunately, taxes 9 1 are going to be a fact of life here. And you know, Carl, I 2 don't know if you guys have the spreadsheet that Heather -- 3 I'm going to start in 2006-7 and go in consecutive years. 4 Our tax -- 5 TRUSTEE McCANN: Brian -- 6 MAYOR SCOTT: Hang on, Chris. Hang on one second. 7 TRUSTEE McCANN: It's important though. 8 MAYOR SCOTT: Go ahead. 9 TRUSTEE McCANN: Remember that one year when we did 10 is when I was first on with Gary and all them guys, I think 11 we had one like at zero, but the next year I think we could 12 hardly get it off five. If we go to one this year, we're 13 going to be at four or five next year. 14 MAYOR SCOTT: And I think that's logically 15 thinking, Chris, but real quick, you know, Carl, just so you 16 guys know, and again, I'm starting 2006-2007, this is the 17 tax increase for the Village of Savona, thirty-seven cents, 18 forty-two cents, thirty-two cents, fifty-seven cents, 19 forty-eight cents, twenty-five cents, and then it went from 20 twenty-five to fifty-three, to twenty-five to fifty-one, to 21 twenty-one, to sixty-seven cents. Then it went forty-four 22 cents, thirty-two cents, and this year the proposed is 23 thirty-six cents. So you know, thirty-six cents is -- in 24 the last ten years of budgets, fourteen years of budgets, 25 it's the ninth lowest, and again, thirty-six, forty-two, 10 1 fifty-seven, forty-eight, fifty-two, fifty-one, sixty-seven. 2 I don't think we're out of whack. And you know, Chris, 3 you're one hundred percent correct, and that number is 4 actually the twenty-five cent number, because if you 5 remember, Chris, there was a lot of discussion and the board 6 of trustees made the choice to raise taxes one percent just 7 because we knew -- 8 TRUSTEE McCANN: Right, right. 9 MAYOR SCOTT: We knew that zero was not feasible. 10 And if you look at history, it went from twenty-five to 11 fifty-one cents. Excuse me, it went from twenty-five cents 12 to fifty-one cents the next year, dropped down to twenty-one 13 cents, then at a one percent increase, then the very next 14 year it was 3.8% and a sixty-eight cent increase. So if 15 they would have just split that in half at thirty-four 16 cents, somebody save for the first year, the second year 17 they're doubling the increase. So looking at previous year 18 budgets starting in 2006, you know, that's where we run our 19 budget is at that thirty-two to thirty-six, thirty-seven 20 cent tax increase. Carl, you and I had an excellent talk 21 Sunday morning. Everywhere I look in the village I can tell 22 you somebody that's on a fixed income, and right now I could 23 drive down the street with you and we know people that are 24 unemployed, and who knows when they're going back to work. 25 The pain is real for all of us, but I think that we can't 11 1 just look at this year. I think we have to look at the 2 future years of the village and like Chris said, we go 1% 3 this year we're (inaudible) with the cost of living and the 4 way things go (inaudible) the other end of it. That's just 5 my two cents. The board can discuss it and we'll go from 6 there. 7 TRUSTEE PETERS: (Inaudible) valid points and I 8 hear you, but you know, if it comes down to continued 9 increases every year, which probably will, it might be time 10 to take a look at dissolving the village. There's, you 11 know, there might be time to take a look at getting together 12 in the Town of Bath and establishing a fire district, 13 although that will just spread the cost another -- but -- 14 MAYOR SCOTT: Carl -- 15 TRUSTEE PETERS: I'm still voting no. I'm sorry. 16 MAYOR SCOTT: That's fine. For five years I've 17 tried to get the Town of Bath to talk about a fire district. 18 For five years. Ask Ron Smith why Ron Smith and I don't 19 talk anymore, over a fire district. And there's a lot of 20 things. You know, I was asked today, let's get rid of the 21 animal control. That's fine and dandy. They'll come and 22 take care of dogs through the Town of Bath, but what's one 23 of the biggest problems in Savona? What's Carl do most of 24 his business with? Cats. Town of Bath does not take care 25 of cats or do anything with cats. So you know what, now 12 1 you've got a cat problem because you saved four hundred, six 2 hundred, eight hundred bucks on Carl, because you're still 3 going to have to pay Bath something. 4 TRUSTEE FINCH: Doesn't Bath charge to do that, 5 though? Dog control. They would still charge us, right? 6 MAYOR SCOTT: Absolutely. They're not going to 7 come -- they won't even plow a street that they're driving 8 on for us for nothing. You think they're going to come 9 (inaudible) a dog for nothing? 10 TRUSTEE FINCH: That's what I'm saying, so we 11 wouldn't be saving anything because they're going to 12 probably charge us more. 13 MAYOR SCOTT: That's what I'm saying. You know, 14 I've said for five years, and like I said, ask Ron Smith why 15 he and I don't have a relationship anymore. It's because 16 I've asked him very nicely, can we talk about a fire 17 district. You know, look at our biggest expense. Our 18 biggest expense in the budget is the fire department. 19 Nobody is complaining about it. You know, if you look at 20 the bills that we're going to sign tomorrow night, two 21 hundred and fifty dollars for gloves that were ruined in a 22 fire recently. It is what it is. It's not budgeted. 23 TRUSTEE FINCH: I saw that. 24 MAYOR SCOTT: There's another one in there for the 25 fire department (inaudible) for eight hundred bucks. You 13 1 know, there's a thousand dollars from one fire that the 2 village is paying for. I don't want to be in the fire 3 business and I'm not going to hide the fact that I don't 4 want to be in the fire business. And you know, how long can 5 we -- I've had a conversation, Carl, with Jody and with Gene 6 and with Jason Miller and Kevin Furness. How long can we 7 support four fire trucks, you know, before you have to 8 combine a pumper/tanker and -- our biggest expense is the 9 fire department, and like I said, we're looking at a bill 10 that we're going to sign tomorrow night, a thousand dollars 11 for valve and piston controls for the fire department. You 12 know, these are all budgeted items that we're looking at and 13 we're going to say, hey, you know what, here it is, one 14 thousand seven hundred and ninety-five dollars, so from a 15 fire in Campbell we're at four thousand dollars, here's a 16 repair order, one thousand, five hundred and sixty-four 17 dollars for T&R Towing. You know, here's one for fire 18 department -- 19 TRUSTEE McCANN: Brian, that's the ambulance. 20 MAYOR SCOTT: Yeah, I'm just saying. What I'm 21 saying is, if we cut this budget to 1%, where are we going 22 to find money -- you know, let's just say there's -- you 23 know, in that tree contractual, say we have six thousand and 24 we cut that to four thousand and we cut the trees down to 25 save two thousand, but then we get another four thousand 14 1 dollars worth of fire department bills, you know, part of 2 this is you're budgeting where you can steal money from at 3 the end of the year. There's not a line item in the budget 4 that says fire department, you know, an extra five thousand 5 dollars just in case. There's no line item just in case for 6 fire department. So Heather's now going to sit down and 7 say, hey, where can I steal from to pay these bills? And if 8 we start taking money from different line items, and I'm all 9 -- hey, do what you guys want to do, it's your budget, where 10 do we come up with money at the end of the year for these 11 unexpected bills? Like I said, that fire in Campbell, God 12 bless them and thanks for being there, but that fire is 13 costing us thirty-two hundred bucks plus there's another 14 fire truck over there, the ambulance that they got from 15 Bradford, we have a bill for seventeen hundred bucks work. 16 We're paying these bills out of this year's budget because 17 we have a little extra to take from here and there. And 18 that's what I'm saying, we can cut, but make sure that we're 19 still going to have enough left for the unexpected oops's 20 that we're still responsible for. 21 TRUSTEE McCANN: Okay, guys, I'm very solid in what 22 we said in our last meeting and I proposed it. I'm staying 23 true to that. 24 TRUSTEE FINCH: I propose 3%. I'm not sure where 25 you're going to get the other cuts but I think we could go 15 1 to 3%. That's my opinion. 2 MAYOR SCOTT: Okay. 3 TRUSTEE CARSON: My opinion on all this, I mean, 4 honestly, I can't support the 1%. With all respect to Carl, 5 I just can't do 1% because in my eyes I want to -- you know, 6 yes, we have a lot of residents that are in hard times right 7 now, but if we don't stick to these numbers and make sure 8 that the village as a whole is in a good position and in the 9 green each year and putting a little bit towards that 10 reserve each year, then we're not doing any of the residents 11 in the village any good. 12 MAYOR SCOTT: So let me ask you this, let's do a 13 straw vote real quick. Carl was at the 1%, Chris is at the 14 3.02%, the thirty-six cents per thousand, Mary is at the 15 thirty-one cent per thousand. I guess -- we know where the 16 three stand. Tina, I need to know where you stand and if 17 you stand with Chris I'm going to have to vote, if you stand 18 with Mary I'm going to have to vote, you know. 19 TRUSTEE CARSON: Yeah, I'm good with 3.2, Brian. 20 MAYOR SCOTT: You're fine with the thirty-six cent 21 increase? 22 TRUSTEE CARSON: Yes, that we voted on last week. 23 I stand with my vote from last week. 24 MAYOR SCOTT: Okay. So that's where Chris stood. 25 We know where Carl stands, we know where Mary stands. So I 16 1 guess now is there any further discussion, because I think 2 we're at a point where we can take a vote. Is there any 3 further discussion before we take a vote on the tentative 4 budget? 5 (NO RESPONSE). 6 MAYOR SCOTT: Okay. I would make a motion, or I 7 would like somebody to make a motion on the accepting of the 8 tentative budget that we have presented in front of the 9 public, which is the 3.02%, bringing the taxes to seven 10 dollars and eighty-two cents for the tax rate with an 11 increase of thirty-six cents. That's what's on the table 12 for the tentative budget. Can I have a motion? 13 TRUSTEE McCANN: Chris made a motion. Do I have a 14 second? 15 TRUSTEE CARSON: I'll second it. 16 MS. OKLEVITCH: Brian, this is Elizabeth. Are you 17 voting to make this a final adoption or just voting on the 18 tentative, because you would need to pass the -- technically 19 pass the tax cap override law before the budget is finally 20 -- 21 MAYOR SCOTT: Correct. No, no, this is not going 22 to be the adopted, because of the things that we have to do 23 beforehand. There was a lot of discussion amongst the board 24 on the three different tax rates, and that's why to move 25 forward to get the things filed that we need to file we need 17 1 to make sure the board is in favor and we're all on the same 2 page for the tentative budget. 3 MS. OKLEVITCH: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. 4 MAYOR SCOTT: But we can -- so once we have the 5 tentative budget approved for the "second time", then 6 Heather can do the affidavits for the tax override, or tax 7 cap override, and then we can do the final adoption at the 8 end of April. But there was a lot of questions coming into 9 tonight from the board so I just want to make sure we're all 10 on the same page. 11 MS. OKLEVITCH: Okay. 12 MAYOR SCOTT: But thank you for your input and 13 making sure we're doing it right. I greatly appreciate 14 that. So yes, this is, again, not the adopted final budget, 15 this is to adopt and make sure we're still good with the 16 tentative budget that we approved originally that we were 17 going to revisit tonight, obviously. So Heather can now 18 take the figures back to -- can file the paperwork she needs 19 to file. So there's the motion. Is there any other 20 discussion, and then I'm going to do a vote one more time 21 just so the board has a final vote on the tentative budget. 22 And this is again a final vote of the board's tentative 23 budget. All in favor of the 3.02% at thirty-six cent tax 24 increase? 25 TRUSTEE McCANN: Aye. 18 1 TRUSTEE CARSON: Aye. 2 MAYOR SCOTT: Any opposed? 3 TRUSTEE PETERS: That would be me. 4 MAYOR SCOTT: Okay. Mary, do you have a vote or 5 are you standing? 6 TRUSTEE FINCH: Well, I'd rather have the 3% but I 7 guess I could vote for the 3.02. 8 MAYOR SCOTT: Okay. So now we will take that back. 9 There's paperwork for you guys to sign tomorrow night, 10 Heather will get this stuff submitted and we will -- I was 11 going to say see everybody tomorrow night at six o'clock, 12 but we will talk to everybody again tomorrow night for our 13 regular monthly April board meeting at six o'clock on Zoom. 14 May I have a motion to adjourn the public hearing? 15 TRUSTEE CARSON: I'll make the motion. 16 MAYOR SCOTT: Second? 17 TRUSTEE FINCH: I'll second it. 18 MAYOR SCOTT: All in favor? 19 TRUSTEE PETERS: Aye. 20 TRUSTEE CARSON: Aye. 21 TRUSTEE McCANN: Aye. 22 MAYOR SCOTT: Thank you. Good night. We'll talk 23 to you guys tomorrow. 24 25 19 1 CERTIFICATION 2 I, Dawn K. Smith, certify that the foregoing transcript of 3 the Savona Village Board Meeting was prepared using the required 4 transcription equipment and is a true and accurate record of the 5 proceedings. 6 7 8 9 ______________________________ 10 Dawn K. Smith 11 DS Transcription Services 12 6985 Wilbur Road 13 Bath, NY 14810 14 607-742-6106 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25