THOMPSON — Budget season has started for the Town of Thompson as they set in motion public hearings and workshops to work out plans for the 2022 fiscal year.
Before the budget is presented to the public, the town board holds a series of workshops at the town hall and on Zoom.
Town Supervisor Bill Rieber Jr. said it would be a “tight budget” for the upcoming year during the October 5 town board meeting.
The town board scheduled budget workshops for October 12 and 18 and plan to adopt the budget in November.
Moreover, the first town board meeting in November has been rescheduled to November 3 due to election day happening on November 2.
Furthermore, the town board scheduled a public hearing on a Local Law to “Override the Tax Levy Limit” which will be held at the next town board meeting on October 19.
A public hearing was held for the “Special District Assessment Rolls” of the water and sewer districts on October 5, including the following sewer districts, Adelaar, Harris, Kiamesha, Melody Lake, Rock Hill/Emerald, and Sackett Lake Sewer Districts.
It also included the Adelaar, Cold Spring, Dillon, Kiamesha Route 42 and Lucky Lake Water Districts for the year 2022.
The hearing was to listen to concerns over the point system, which will be used to create a usage fee for residents. No one from the public spoke in person or on the Zoom video app.
“In each of the individual districts that we serve, the points are distributed by property class and property type,” said Rieber.
A single-family home is generally assessed 10 points per household.
He went on to say if any residents were confused by the sewer and water rates to please call Thompson Town Hall.
Recently the town board created three new sewer districts through consolidation. The new districts would be the Consolidated Kiamesha Sewer District (CKSD), Consolidated Harris Sewer District (CHSD), and Consolidated Rock Hill/Emerald Green Sewer District (CREGSD).
There are 11 sewer districts, and in nine of them, water is collected by town-owned sewer lines, including gravity and pump stations, which are then delivered to one of the five town-owned wastewater treatment plants (WWTP).
According to the Town of Thompson, the town’s sewer infrastructure requires an upgrade and much-needed repair.
The consolidated sewer districts share the annual operation and maintenance costs along with the capital cost spread out across a large user base compared to a smaller user base.