Town Board discusses water, money and sweeper
First the good news: Revenues are up. But water’s down.
That was the word from Supervisor Jim Dougherty at Tuesday’s Shelter Island Town Board work session.
Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar had released a report that for the month of May the town collected $162,000, or about $50,000 more than May 2012.
“Monthly reports are kind of a random walk and you can’t draw too many conclusions from them,” Mr. Dougherty said, but nevertheless this was a positive sign for the town.
Building permits were down from last year almost $10,000, but garbage bag sales soared to $29,000 from $7,000 last year.
As for water, Mr. Dougherty reported that tests conducted on May 16 at 13 designated wells were down over last year at this time and four wells — at Little Ram Island, Dering Harbor Village, Hay Beach and Shorewood — were at their lowest levels since 2002.
Two other wells were within 10 percent of their lowest May readings in a decade.
“With the entry into the dry season this is sobering news,” Mr. Dougherty said, adding it wasn’t yet a crisis. He noted there had been some drenching rains in the days following the testing.
In other business, Councilman Paul Shepherd said he had spoken to merchants along Bridge Street about people speeding. Since Route 114 is a state road, the town can’t simply lower speed limits, but it was decided the police department will deploy it’s mobile speed marking sign to slow traffic, Police Chief James Read said. This will allow the department to also gather data that can then be given to the state requesting a lowering of the limit.
The board discussed financing a new sweeper for the town’s roads. The new machine can be leased for about $193,000 for five years, which can then be purchased for $1.
Mr. Card gave the board several options, and it seems the consensus would be to go with an annual payment of $41,493.
The department’s old machine can be sold for about $50,000, so the first year’s lease payment will be taken care of without dipping into highway or town funds.
Advertising will be prepared and bids sent out to vendors, Mr. Card said.
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