Village of Saugerties Mayor Bill Murphy summed up the year 2023 in typically straightforward fashion: “I think it was status quo, no major hiccups,” he said. “Things ran smoothly, more annual events went off well, we were fiscally sound. It was definitely a status quo year.”
But Murphy said 2024 may see its status become a bit less quo, in part due to the challenges village employees are facing due to inflation.
“A lot of my employees are struggling because their current salaries have not met the spike in inflation over the last year or two,” Murphy said. “And we have a new contract coming up for our union employees, and I certainly want to make sure that we can do our best to make them whole and so we can maintain them and not lose them to better paying jobs.”
Another wrench in the works may be the cost of keeping those employees healthy.
“I’ve already gotten a notice from our insurance carrier that our health insurance is probably going to go up around 12 percent next year,” Murphy said. “So we’re facing the usual battles, fighting inflation and increasing costs.”
Murphy said that he hopes village officials are able to keep a longstanding tradition going in 2024.
“We haven’t raised taxes in the village in ten years and I’m very proud of that,” Murphy said. “But I can’t be certain that’s going to be the case this year. I’d love to do it, but it’s hard to keep up. Sure. And we’ve done a great job. This year’s budget is going to be challenging, but we always figure it out, so I’m optimistic.”
Murphy said the village has received some grants for improvements to its public parks, and they hope to address issues of erosion at the Saugerties Village Beach.
Seamon Park is also likely going to get some attention in 2024, including remodeling the Seaman Park House, which Murphy said he hopes will be used for short-term rentals.
“We can make that as an offering as part of when people have weddings up there,” Murphy said.“My previous superintendent retired, so I got a new one and he didn’t need the house. So if someone rented the park out for a wedding and they could rent the house as well for the bridal party to get dressed, whatever. I’d like to make it an attraction almost as great as the lighthouse where people go there and stay.”
Murphy said he is also looking forward to festivals in the village, including the Saugerties Snow Moon Festival, which was put on last year as a means of bringing people to the community in February when tourism is traditionally slow.
“It’s kind of a nice thing too, because we have so many festivals during spring, summer, and fall, the winter gets kind of quiet after Christmas in the Village,” Murphy said. “So it’s kind of a nice festival to fill the gap for a weekend.”
Murphy said the successes in the Village of Saugerties are largely down to its volunteers, particularly its veterans.
“I’m very blessed to have the community members and the volunteer groups that we have from the veterans,” he said. “The veterans do so much in this community, the fire departments. It’s incredible and I feel humbled every day that I get to work with these people and be part of what they want to do.”
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