With personnel and finances stretched thin across Ulster County, a report from ambulance chief Richard Mullerleile to the Shandaken town board’s October 4 meeting disclosed a high level of emergency calls in September.
At the same meeting, Shandaken tpwn supervisor Rob Stanley announced a preliminary town budget for 2022, entailing an overall increase of 3.89 percent and a tax-levy increase of 2.91 percent.
September’s 43 ambulance calls included the extraction of a hiker injured on Slide Mountain, requiring six hours of rescue efforts and a helicopter lift due to the difficulty of access. The hiker’s injuries were serious but not life-threatening. The department delivered two instances of mutual aid to the Olive ambulance department, one to Woodstock, and one to Lexington.
These labor-intensive calls do not necessarily recoup the expense involved, and Mullerleile is consulting with stakeholders to find a system for recovering costs.
Shandaken has one of the few local ambulance departments that pays all its personnel — that is, paramedics, EMTs, and drivers. Woodstock has paid paramedics but is otherwise staffed entirely by volunteers. Olive pays its EMTs and drivers, but has no paramedics on staff. If a department receives a call that requires the skills of a paramedic, but it has none, or its paramedic on duty is already out on a call, a request will go out to one of the professional emergency services in Ulster County. However, due to high call volume in urban areas, personnel shortages, and long hospital wait times, the commercial service may not have a paramedic available, and the result is often a call to Shandaken.
“As our primary mission is to provide the highest level of emergency medical care to the Town of Shandaken,” stated Mullerleile, “we currently only fulfill requests to other townships if sufficient backup personnel are available for duty.”
2022 Shandaken budget
Shandaken’s preliminary budget specifies an increase in spending from $3.013 million to $3.130 million, or 3.89 percent, There have been increases in salaries, retirement funds, water district needs, highway department vehicles, and road salt. Some of the hikes are precautionary, said Stanley, incremental increases in anticipation of future needs, to prevent sudden tax spikes down the line.
In the case of the Phoenicia Water District, for example, a new filtration pump is needed to take pressure off the two existing ten-year-old pumps that alternate in service. A crane will be required to install the new pump, an expensive prospect. The budget adds to the capital reserve fund to start saving for the project.
The Pine Hill water system needs source work, and some of it falls outside the purview of available grant money. Stanley thanked new Pine Hill water superintendent Ethan Bernstein, who took a slight pay cut to reflect his beginner status relative to the retiring superintendent.
Dollar-an-hour salary increases are budgeted for town employees making under $15 per hour. While the police and ambulance chiefs will get a small raise, both departments are holding the line on total salary costs. They are looking to hire more personnel, which will reduce overtime expenses.
The Phoenicia and Pine Hill libraries are both requesting an additional $10,000 per year, which voters will approve or reject by marking a resolution on the back of the ballot. If approved, the Phoenicia Library budget will go up to $182,000, while Pine Hill will reach $54,000.
Lighting district budgets are dropping slightly due to the installation of energy-saving LED lights.
Building and zoning
With the increase in floodplain activity and the forthcoming regulations of short-term rentals, the town is looking at splitting building and zoning into two separate departments. As floodplain regulations shift, the goal is to stay within the community rating system, in order to keep flood insurance rates down for local homeowners. “We should have a building inspector who just sticks with buildings instead of getting caught up with dramas with the zoning office,” said Stanley.
Since the departure of building inspector Howard McGowan, there have been holdups with building permits, while the town seeks to fill the position. No one responded to a salary of $10,000 per year, so the budget includes a salary hike to $25,000 for the part-time job. Later in the meeting, the board appointed Sarah Pellizari as interim zoning officer, at $16 per hour, and appointed highway superintendent Eric Hofmeister as interim floodplain administrator, at no additional compensation. In the days following the meeting, Bill Weissman of Lake Hill was hired as building inspector. He started work on Monday, October 11.
Highway needs
The 2022 budget increases the capital line for the highway department by $15,000, reflecting the anticipation of projects that can be supported by grants but require matching funds. “This will help us sock money away,” said Stanley. “We have been buying quite a few vehicles lately.” Another truck will soon be needed.
Other increases will go to signs, road improvement, guardrails, and salt and calcium. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has informed the town that the gravel bank currently furnishing dirt for winter roads only has about five years of material remaining, “so we’re budgeting now for the future,” said Stanley.
Parks
The town board appointed Samantha Awand-Gortel as Parish Field Park manager. Committee members are sought for consideration of the park currently being created in Mount Tremper as part of the Route 28 bridge replacement and flood management project.
The bottom line
Slightly raised fees for zoning and planning, ambulance service, and forfeited bail will offset the tax increase by $20,000. After avoiding dipping into the fund balance for several years, the town is taking out $25,000 to keep down the overall tax increase, which will mean a hike of about $15 for every $500 of tax payment by homeowners.
The town board unanimously passed a local law to allow the town to override the two-percent tax cap imposed by New York State.
The budget figures can be inspected on the town website, https://www.shandaken-ny.com. A public hearing on the budget will be held on November 3, the day after Election Day, at 6:30 p.m., before the regular town board meeting at 7 p.m.
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