Supervisor sees growing cooperation with village
Town Supervisor Elizabeth Spinzia sees 2017 as the year where village and town officials finally moved forward with an amicable consolidation effort that she said should flourish in the year ahead.
In an interview last week, Spinzia said some cooperative projects have already begun.
“What we accomplished that was really important and great was to continue to further our working relationship with our municipality across the street, the village,” she said.
“We worked together to pave roads, saving the taxpayers over $60,000,” Spinzia said. “We’re looking at court consolidation, we’re looking at highway department consolidation, we have formed a joint environmental committee to look at policy and cost-free initiatives that we could start to move Rhinebeck away from dependence on fossil fuels, and we’ve banded together with other municipalities that get their drinking water from the (Hudson River) to be one voice to protect the river.”
Spinzia said revising land use regulations during the past year to accommodate solar energy projects was an important step toward helping property owners reduce electric costs.
“Our solar law was a big win for us this year,” she said. “We’re very committed to environmental causes and supporting clean energy in Rhinebeck.”
Town Board members also reached agreements that reduced the cost of fire companies covering the Rhinecliff and Hillside fire protection districts.
“We’re resolving issues and the fire contracts was certainly one of them,” Spinzia said. “That again came with the cooperation of the village. With them opening up their books to us for the first time and really taking us through where the money went for fire protection, it allowed us to do a bigger study of how we were funding the other two fire departments.”
Under the contract for service by the Rhinecliff Fire District, the town will spend $31,000 in 2018 for
fire protection, a decrease of 50.04 percent, or $31,055. The 2018 contract for service by the Hillside Fire District will be $27,956, a decrease of 13.67 percent, or $4,428.
Spinzia said her 2018 todo list is still being developed, but she said a townwide property revaluation will be among the most significant projects in the coming year.
“Restructuring the (assessor’s duties) to get us through that, as well as restructuring
the courts and the highway department, will be priorities,” she said.
Spinzia said she also hopes to move forward with projects at Thompson-Mazzarella Park in 2018.
“We’re going to complete the construction of the pavilion at the park,” Spinzia said. “We’re going to move ahead with development of the fields as interested parties come forth to give their time for that. We’re going to look at a grant to come up with a master plan for the renovation of our pool, kiddie pool and (associated) buildings.”