Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
07-20-09 - 7:45 a.m. - After more than a month of being held hostage by the State Senate squabble, legislation critical to the future of the county and a project in Austerlitz has finally been approved.
A spokeswoman for Senator Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) told ccSCOOP that the final piece of home rule legislation from the county—a bill that ultimately will allow for the construction of a new firehouse in Austerlitz—passed the Senate early Thursday afternoon, July 16. |
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Two previous pieces of legislation, which if not enacted would have cost county taxpayers millions of dollars, passed the Senate in the hours following the July 9 decision by turncoat Democratic Senator Pedro Espada (D-Bronx) to return to the Democratic caucus of the Senate and break a 31-31 divide between senators.
The more important of those bills authorized an extension of the county’s ability to collect an additional 1 percent in sales tax on top of the 3 percent it has authority to collect. The total sales tax in the county is 8 percent, with 4 percent of that tax levied by the state.
Had the tax extension not been enacted, it would have cost county and municipal property taxpayers $7.5 million and inflicted “misery” on the county, according to County Treasurer Ken Wilber. A third of the $7.5 million is distributed to county’s towns and the City of Hudson, with the remainder applied to the county’s $140 million budget.
The Senate also passed legislation to extend the county’s authority to collect a property transfer tax in addition to the mortgage tax. The property transfer tax brings $250,000 into the county coffers annually, Wilber said. Both of the bills had passed the State Assembly before the scheduled close of business for state legislators in June.
The home rule legislation requested by Austerlitz in January passed on July 16, authorizing the re-designation of two acres of parkland adjoining the current Austerlitz firehouse on state Route 22 to non-parkland. This “alienation of parkland” will allow the Town of Austerlitz to move ahead with the planned sale of the property to the Austerlitz Fire Company for $23,000. The town is legally required to sell the land at its assessed value since the fire company is a private entity.
The board agreed to the sale in May but could not move forward until the “alienation of parklands” legislation was approved by both houses of the legislature.
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Councilwoman MaryAnne Lee said on Friday that the Town Board had been waiting for the state action but could now move ahead. “There are a couple of internal steps the town now has to take before the sale can be completed, but I would expect that the sale will be finalized this fall,” Lee said.
Fire officials have told ccSCOOP that they need to construct a new fire station to accommodate newer, larger fire trucks. The existing Austerlitz fire station was constructed in 1954 and expanded in the 1970s and no longer meets the needs of the fire company, officials said.
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