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From the Desk of Moe Bickweat

At the Special Town Board Meeting on October 2, 2006 the Town Board met to review the Tentative Budget for FY2007. I started the workshop session by presenting this year’s Budget Message. I acknowledged that preparation of the Tentative Budget was extremely difficult. I offered the following as background.

 “There are a number of areas in the 2006 fiscal year that expenditures and year end projections exceeded anticipated allocations. We increased the 2006 budget by 30% associated with all items related to petroleum including Gasoline & Diesel fuel for our Highway Department & Building Department. This increase was not sufficient to keep pace with the escalating costs. The increased cost of asphalt, salt and other highway department expenditures relating to the cost of the product or the delivery of the product are all related to increases in petroleum expenditures. Utility costs (gas & electricity) have escalated dramatically for all Town owned buildings. Litigation fees also exceeded expectations; this has been mainly driven by the necessity to defend the Town against the lawsuit by the County. The 2006 Budget anticipated an increase of 12% for health care costs for employees; however during the first six months of 2006, Excellus raised their rates by 34% and Preferred Care by 16%. Restructuring our Employee Health Services in July of this year has generated significant savings over the last six months of 2006. There were unanticipated costs associated with the Feasibility Study & Map Plan & Report for the proposed Water District, Library Survey & three furnaces for the library. Each of these items created unanticipated drain on our cash balances.

Additionally the increases in the Veterans Exemption and the purchase of the Dreisbach Property have added to the Tax Rate for 2007.

The Town of Mendon continues to have one of the lowest tax rates in Monroe County . I believe that the majority of our Department heads were aware of these pressures, and this Budget reflects some of the tough choices that had to be made.” (To review the entire 2007 Budget Message go to the Town’s Website (www.townofmendon.org)

For nearly three hours the Board reviewed each line item of the 65 page Tentative Budget for clarification and/or recommended changes. Mr. Rooney’s recommendation to increase the Town Board’s allocation ($500.00) for Conference, travel & dues was rejected. Mr. Rooney also recommended decreasing Litigation Services in the Town wide A Fund from $10,000 to $7,500. This recommendation and Mr. Rooney’s recommendation to reduce B Fund Town Outside the Village Zoning Updates from $15,000 to $5,000 were approved by the Board. Mr. Rooney wanted to add additional money to the Revenue Category by putting more money in the Budget for Receipt of Grants. I explained that it would be more prudent to amend the budget after  we actually received any grant(s) to accurately account for the revenue if received. The Board decided against Mr. Rooney’s recommendation. After a discussion with Laurie Guenther , Library Director & Mark Rowe, Library Trustee Treasurer, the Board also approved adding $8000.00 over my recommendation to the Library Budget. Nearly all of this increase is due to the reduced funding assistance from Monroe County .

The Board then passed the 2007 Preliminary Budget and, by a four to one vote, chose to have a Public Hearing on the Budget on October 26th at the Town of Mendon Falls Post 664 Community Center.

The Preliminary 2007 Town Budget of $3,758,821 is an increase in the budget from FY 2006 of $136,494.00 or 3.6% more than last year’s budget. In order to maintain healthy fund balances the 2007 FY budget will increase the Tax Rate for Village residents from $1.18 per $1000.00 assessed Value to $1.30 per $1000.00. For residents of the Town outside the village the Tax Rate increase will go from $1.96 per $1000.00 assessed value to $2.146 per $1000.00

The effect on the individual taxpayer in the Village of Honeoye Falls would be as follows:

A property owner of a house in the Village assessed at $150,000 in 2006 paid $177.00 A result of the FY2007 budget the property owner would pay $195.00 in Town Taxes or $18.00 more next year than this year.

An example of a property owner of a house in the Town outside the Village assessed at $150,000 in 2006 paid $294.00 A result of the FY2007 budget the property owner would pay $321.98in Town Taxes, or $27.98 more next year than this year.

LIBRARY NEWS

The Town Board at this point has decided not to move forward on identifying a site for the construction of a new library. There are many unresolved factors involved in making this decision. As an alternative and with the full knowledge that the existing library is grossly inadequate not only in size but in the need for significant expenditures to the existing aging building, Board Member Marv Vahue has suggested that we look into the possibility of leasing the 7500 sq.ft. building that is currently vacant opposite the Honeoye Falls Market Place. A lease arrangement would allow relief from the cramped quarters, avoid new construction costs, allow time to establish fund raising activities by the community, gather & verify data regarding population trends etc.      

ZONING MORATORIUM

The Town’s Moratorium on Residential Subdivisions has provided an opportunity for our Chapter 200 (Zoning) Committee and the Planning Board time to review our existing Code and make necessary changes. It is hoped that once the changes are made we will have a clearer and more cohesive set of expectations for developers, our Boards and Town Officials in the direction we hope to go in the future. The recommendations will be emerging from these bodies within the next couple of months and there will be ample opportunity for the public to review these important recommendations and partake in Public Hearings.

Mendon Democratic Committee Endorses West for Assembly

At the May committee meeting, the Mendon Democratic committee unanimously endorsed Daniel West to be the democratic candidate for the NYS assembly seat in the 130th district. His opponent will be incumbent republican Joe Errigo. Dan had served as the Town Supervisor for Livonia for a number of years and currently resides in Henrietta. The 130th district includes the entire Town of Mendon . As a lifelong resident of this assembly district, Dan says “If elected, I will not be able to solve all the problems we face as western new Yorkers. I do think that as a member of the Democratic Majority, I will have a greater opportunity to participate in the process that our current minority party member. I am ready to work hard and ensure that citizens of the 130th A.D. are well represented in Albany !”

Check Dan out at www.westforassembly.com . site up in mid may

Al Franken Show Hits Rochester

Last Thursday, April 27th, Al Franken brought his Air America show to Rochester ’s Little Theatre. Committee members Gunner Johnson and Carol Mulligan report that it was a great show in front of a sellout crowd. Eric Massa, democratic candidate for the 129th district appeared on the show. Go to http://rawlingspolitical.com/rawlingspolitical/massaforcongress/AlFranken042706.mp3

To hear the audio of his appearance.

Kuhl Fails Higher Education Exam

I recently received a letter from Randy Kuhl, our congressman from the 29th district, explaining H.R. 609, the College Access and Opportunity Act of 2005.  In case you received it too, I wanted to point out the gross inaccuracies contained in the letter and add some context.

 First of all, Mr. Kuhl voted for the Budget Reconciliation Act of 2005, which cut close to 13 billion dollars for student aid programs. That’s right, cut 13 billion while we are providing tax breaks to oil companies and the wealthiest among us. Yet he has the gall to promote this Bill as supporting Higher Education. While students and families are running up an average of $20,000 in debt to get through college, the republican controlled congress decided to cut spending on the backs of students and lower to  middle class families by raising interest rates on the most popular government student loan programs. The Stafford loan program rate will increase to 6.8 percent of as July 1, 2006 and the PLUS loans available to parents will rise to 8.5 from 7.9 percent. As most are financing education through loans, this will increase the debt burden on students and families while the government “savings” are used to provide tax breaks to the wealthiest among us.

Earlier last year, the Secretary of Education changes the qualifying rules on Pells Grants, in effect eliminating the eligibility of families are the margin of eligibility, and estimated some 80,000 students. This is supporting access to college? All Randy Kuhl is doing is making it harder to qualify for grants, raising interest rates on loans and pushing students and families to take out private, unsubsidized loans at even higher rates, usually in the range of 12% and higher!

Please do not believe the line Mr. Kuhl is feeding us. If he really supported access to Higher Education he would not have supported the 13 billion in cuts to student aid. By the way, the vote was 216-214. Mr. Kuhl failed the test.

Mendon Democratic Committee endorsed Eric Massa of House Seat in the 29th Congressional District

By a unanimous vote, the Mendon Democratic Committee endorsed Eric Massa for congress representing the 29th congressional district. Massac appeared before the committee and presented his candidacy and plans to defeat Randy Kuhl this fall. See www.massaforcongress.com for more information on his campaign.

Lima town board Delays hearing on application for use of parcel on 15A

Pete Yendell, Lima Town Supervisor, decided to postpone the presentation of an application for land use involving a parcel on 15A due to an overwhelming crowd at the April 6th Town Board meeting. The meeting has been postponed and will be held on May 3rd at the Lima Baptist Church .

The application suggests that the applicant is Wal-Mart and is requesting the use for a store of approximately 206,000 sq ft and parking for close to 1,000 cars.

Bush in Canandaigua, Kuhl’s Town Hall meeting

I am a patriot, veteran, and a person who loves this country but I have come to the realization that the government has not acted in the best interests of the people. The war in Iraq has cost billions of dollars, over 2300 deaths of US service men and women, tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths, and many thousands of maimed and wounded with no end in sight. Other concerns are the environment, fair elections, government spying on US citizens, poor leadership by the president, and the failure by congress to do anything about these matters.

I have attended a number of town meetings that Congressman Randy Kuhl has had so that I could hear what he had to say and voice my opinions about important issues. In February 2005 I went to one of these meetings and the main issue was the proposal to privatize Social Security. Almost everyone that spoke about this was against privatizing it but Kuhl didn't seem to care and put his name on a bill to have excess funds sent to private accounts. Another town meeting Kuhl had was in Honeoye Falls last fall. A young woman was there who said she had diabetes and wanted to know how he voted on stem cell research bills. He said he voted for the research on blood but not the broader one that would have provided more results because it was a "moral issue". How moral is he when he accepted $20,000 from Tom Delay and the lobbyist Jack Abramoff and refuses to give it back or to charity? Kuhl had another meeting in Honeoye Falls March 6, 2006 and was asked if he would say that the war in Iraq was a mistake. He refused to make that statement and said there was chaos there and that we should stay until the mission was accomplished. I pointed out that the chaos was due to us invading the country and asked him what the mission was. He didn't answer. Another issue was health care and the Medicare bill. A doctor pointed out that the current system wasn't working and that most people couldn't understand Medicare part D.

Randy Kuhl decided to have President Bush come to Canandaigua and give a pep talk about Medicare. I attended a press conference held by Eric Massa who will be running for congress against Kuhl. Massa pointed out the failures of the Medicare legislation and pointed out that it favored the drug companies and not the elderly. There was a lady at the press conference that was in a wheel chair. She is a former Marine MP and said she opposed the President's policies. She also went to the meeting at Bella Largo Party House in Canandaigua where hundreds of people attended and heard many speakers say that the Medicare Part D meant "D" for disaster. The same Marine woman went to the protest at the corner of 5&20 and Main St. She was there in her wheel chair with a Marine flag blowing in the stiff wind which was blowing over 50 mph. The wind chill was about zero but she showed more guts than the chicken hawks that lied us into the Iraq war. The same lady asked to see the president when he spoke in Canandaigua but her request was turned down. Senator Schumer wanted Bush to go to the Veterans facility in Canandaigua but that didn't happen.

Gunnar Johnson

The Search for a New Library

Given the recent activity by the Mendon Town Board and the Mendon Library Trustees regarding a new library, I thought it would be helpful to the community to understand some of the recent history on this project. To that end, what follows is a recap of some seven years of work in search of a new library.

Based on a report completed in September, 1999 by a town board appointed library facilities committee, and a library consultant report presented in May 2001, the library trustees, in cooperation with the town board, set out to identify an appropriate site for a much needed new library. I headed an all volunteer site selection committee, whose objective was to make a recommendation of three preferred sites for the next library.

The aforementioned reports called for a 10,000 to 12,000 square foot facility to meet the current demand and absorb future demand. We determined that an acceptable lot would need to be approximately two acres, and a close to rectangular shape. We created 15 criteria broken into three areas: Land; Costs; and Marketing. From there, we examined every potentially eligible site, over 20, within the village or in close proximity. This was a recommendation of all reports, that the facility remain as close to the current one as possible, so as not to disrupt the flow of the current users.

The land criteria included the lot size (approximately two acres), the lot geometry (close to rectangular, avoiding long and narrow), low land acquisition cost, appropriate zoning, little neighborhood disruption, easy access both by car and foot, and the potential for esthetic beauty.  For any site, development costs were of paramount concern. Therefore, we wished to avoid any significant environmental issues, sites that might require some extraordinary preparation like water concerns or irregular terrain, a site that would demand no exceptional operating costs and net development costs would ultimately be deemed reasonable.  Thirdly, we were concerned with marketing the library. We wanted a site that would be visible, met with town and village short and long range planning criteria, was close to the existing facility, was near and convenient to other stops such as the school and stores, and lent itself to the possibilities of collaboration with other uses.

I will highlight some of the sites reviewed of the 20 plus sites. Of course, our first preference was to keep the library where it is. We considered building on to the current site, building behind, and acquiring adjacent properties. But no matter how we looked at it, the site was not feasibly. Development costs were simply too high. We looked at the former legion post, but that site too was ruled out. While it is owned by the town, the existing building was inadequate for a library, the lot size too small and odd shaped, and the location not near any other frequently visited stops. We also liked the two sites on East Street . The former Rittenhouse property is an eye sore and we thought the library would be a great improvement. However, the site is small, has some environmental concerns, and would have necessitated removal of buildings, raising development costs. The Sumner property, down the street, presented promise. A rectangular, two acre site, located right across from the Middle School, it scored high on many of our criteria. The only unknown was the acquisition cost, and potential water problems. This was a second recommended choice, after the Village Square property.

We eventually recommended the Main Street site, in the Village Square development. The site was large enough, the development and acquisition costs reasonable, and it is in a very high traffic area and quite visible. The Library Trustees voted to endorse this site and then made the recommendation to the Town Board in the fall of 2003. The board at that time, decided to select the current library site, despite the drawbacks we articulated. As this site was further examined, development cost were deemed to be prohibitive, and the site was moved to the Main St lot we originally recommended. This site was voted down in a town wide referendum in August 2005.

I do not believe much has changed in the years that have passed since our review.  Our criteria are sound from a rational view and based on the reports and surveys completed in recent years of where to locate a library that would serve the town well for decades to come. We did not consider any political concerns over the ultimate question: “do the majority of voters want a new library, and are they willing to pay for it”.

 The story remains unfinished. I am hopeful that we as a community will come to a solution to our current library quandary. Many people have worked on these issues for at least the last seven years, if not longer. I hope that our past work in site selection will assist the current trustees and the town board in their effort to bring us to an option acceptable to a majority of our voters and fufill the need for a much needed new library..

Gregory Soehner

Honeoye Falls

Lima Development Possibility                                                                            March 13, 2006

What We Know

  • Employees of Bergmann Associates, as well as an excavating company, have been conducting site work on an approximately 60 acre parcel of land, on the eastern side of Rt 15A, the second lot north of Corby Road .
  • The lot is owned by the members of the family of Helen D. Kreienberg and has not been sold.
  • From the activity and equipment on site, it appears that the work underway includes surveying and engineering feasibility work.  It is assumed but not known that a required archaeological study may have been completed earlier in order for preliminary site work to have progressed this far.
  • Also from the activity and number of personnel seen on this site in recent weeks, it appears that considerable resources are being expended to determine whether this site is suitable for the intended purpose of an as yet unknown prospective buyer. 
  • The lot is located entirely within an Agricultural Use District and commercial development of any type is not a permitted use in this type of district.
  • In response to resident inquiries, several town officials have stated that the prospective developer has not approached the town.  No details regarding the type of work being conducted on the lot or the nature of the prospective project are known at this level.
  • As of today, 3/13/06, it has become known that the owner of the property under review, William Kreienberg, has requested to be on the agenda at the next town board meeting, April 6, 2006, 7pm, to request that the land under review be rezoned to allow big box retail development.

What We Have Heard

  • That the site study underway is being conducted for a big box retailer.  Wal-Mart has been mentioned most often.

Why We Are Concerned

  • The prospect of a big box retailer in Lima is very troubling.  As these types of stores have opened all over the United States , they have negatively impacted local businesses, crime rates and quality of life.  These effects are well documented.
  • Many misconceptions exist about possible employment and tax collection benefits.  Research confirms that the reality is not so rosy.  Most of the jobs are low paying and do not provide medical coverage benefits.  State and local tax subsidies are often granted to offset construction costs, draining tax revenues away from other projects and services.  Taxes that are collected are partially cancelled out by the loss of tax collections from local stores that are put out of business.  Added demand for community services including but not limited to road maintenance, traffic management, police cost even more tax dollars.  It is of critical importance that these facts become widely known.
  • Lima has not yet adopted the comprehensive plan that was drafted last year.  This draft plan was written to address changes in the community, increasing pressure for development and changes in planning and zoning concepts that should be enacted in order to ensure that growth and development are directed in a way that is consistent with the wishes of Lima ’s citizens as expressed in a 2002 community wide survey.
  • Adoption of this plan and a review of zoning and development guidelines are essential to ensure that permitted new development will complement and not detract from our community and that new development will be located in areas that are appropriate.

What We Would Like To Accomplish

  • Reject any proposal for big box development in an Agricultural Use District.  Such a change would have extreme negative consequences on neighboring residents who have purchased, maintained and improved their properties in said agricultural district with the knowledge that their property investments are protected from development that is afforded by this zoning.
  • Convince local officials to enact a temporary moratorium on accepting new development applications for retail establishments above 10,000 square feet until Lima adopts the comprehensive plan and updates zoning code and development regulations.
  • Ensure that a size cap for retail establishments is established that is compatible with the scale of Lima ’s existing buildings and the community’s size.  Such caps are becoming popular, especially in small communities that are striving to protest local business and quality of life.  The Village of Honeoye Falls established a cap of 17,000 square feet.  Once determined, this cap must be written into Lima ’s zoning code.
  • Actively participate in the review and update of local zoning.  Work toward the implementation of new provisions to mitigate negative impacts of new development and preserve existing quality of life for established neighbors.  Examples of negative impacts include visual impact (the view from a property can be a significant source of satisfaction for the owner and a crucial factor in resale value), light trespass, noise, odors, increased traffic,  environmental harm.

What Can Be Done Now

  • Although the exact nature of the project review underway on Rt.15A is not known, it is prudent and advisable to take the steps outlined in the preceding section of this outline to ensure that  updated guidelines for new development, whatever type it may be, are in place.

How You Can Help

  • Sign the letter dated March 13, 2006 that asks town officials to enact a moratorium on new development applications to allow time for the adoption of the comprehensive plan and update to zoning and development regulations.
  • Sign up to help obtain additional signatures on the letter, either by contacting friends and family in Lima, going door to door in your neighborhood or volunteering to help obtain signatures with another volunteer at Milburn’s Big M and the Honeoye Falls Marketplace on Saturday, March 25.
  • Attend town board meetings, the first Thursday of the month, 7:00 pm at Town Hall,  to stay informed about the progress of this matter.
  • Call, e-mail or write to Lima ’s elected officials to express your support for this action.

Stay In Touch For More Information As It Becomes Available

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