by William Hasenauer Supervisor, Town of Forestport
At the June 20th Forestport town board meeting to be held at 6:30 p.m. at Woodgate Fire Hall, it is expected that several proposals to fund the construction of the replacement of the twin bridges in the hamlet of Forest-port will be presented.
Proposal One is for a permissive referendum for a one lane bridge for about $650,000 to be raised by local taxes.Bridges have to be appropriated through highway department budgets.
This figure does not include interest pay back amounts or terms of the repayment.
A permissive referendum can only be voted on by the taxpayers if, within thirty days following passage of the resolution, a petition signed by voters is presented to place the resolution on the ballot.
Proposal Two is for a mandated referendum which places the proposal before the voter on the November ballot.
This proposal would include the exact bridge cost obtained by contractor bid, the term of repayment and interest costs.
The district director of the N.Y.S. Department of Transportation has informed me that this proposal is the method that should be used.
Proposal Three is to continue to search for state and federal funded bridge grants that do not levy a tax increase on local taxpayers.
While the town has not to date received a grand award, more grants are becoming available to be applied for.
The engineer and grant writers have everything in place for grant application.
As Taxpayers of this Town, it is your opportunity to inform me, if you want a tax increase for this project.
Please attend the June 20th meeting.
