Town of Gouverneur to hold budget hearing on Nov. 4

by Rachel Hunter

The Town of Gouverneur announced its tentative budget at its Oct. 8 meeting.

Town of Gouverneur Supervisor Dave Spilman, Jr. said that the Town tax rate in 2025 is 0.39 cents out of a $100 valuation. That is a 0.01 valuation over the 2024 rate. “We went up one penny,” Supervisor Spilman said. The Village rate per $100 valuation stayed the same at 0.32. “We are at the tax cap level, which is at about 1.8 percent right now,” Supervisor Spilman said. “We are under the 2 percent. If you go over the 2 percent, the State doesn’t like that. It could affect your CHIPS reimbursement, AIM reimbursement, and quite a few other things. We try to keep it down as best we can.”

The Town of Gouverneur approved the tentative budget. Votes in favor were cast by Town Councilman Curran Wade, Town Councilwoman Lory Whitton, and Town Councilman Bill Infield. Town of Gouverneur Supervisor Dave Spilman, Jr. and Town of Gouverneur Deputy Supervisor Jay Bowhall abstained. The final vote was 3-0-2.

The preliminary budget will be presented at the public hearing on Monday, November 4, starting at 5 p.m., inside the Town of Gouverneur Offices Building, 1227 US Highway 11, Gouverneur. For more info, visit gouverneurny.com or call 315-287-2340.

In other news:

Town of Gouverneur Supervisor Dave Spilman, Jr. announced that the Town raised the Gouverneur Rescue Squad’s contract by 5 percent ($2,000) for 2025.

Community Center Report: The Senior Citizens Club met at the Eldon B. Conklin Gouverneur Community Center on Oct. 8. The St. Lawrence County Office For The Aging (SLCOFA) put on a presentation about Medicare and Medicaid. The Gouverneur Community Center will be the place to be in the coming weeks for a PeeWee Football Banquet, Halloween Dances, and more.

Housing Grant: Code Enforcement Officer Rick Wood announced that the first six projects are halfway completed. “They are all waiting for materials to come in to finish off the project,” he said. “The other four have been written up and sent to DANC (Development Authority of the North Country) for review… They will go out to bid probably in the week of Oct. 17-18. That is the second phase, a total of 10 at this point. Then, at that point, we will be able to figure out what we have left in funds.”

Town Highway Report: Town of Gouverneur Highway Supt. Michael Wainwright said: “We finished up all the storm repair. Just the materials that we purchased is $55,576.52. Late this afternoon I got the email from the County. They redid their hourly rates for the excavator, grater, trucks. They hadn’t changed those since 2017. So now that they have redid it, (Town Bookkeeper Diane Kelley) and I will sit down and figure out all the rates on the equipment, with the trucks, the labor. We have to come up with that figure… On Thursday, the St. Lawrence County Highway Superintendent’s Association will have a meeting in Waddington. Somebody will be there from the State and the County. That is what they are focusing on – all the paperwork and how to do it.” He also reported that the Town of Gouverneur Highway Department workers would be attending the flagging and rabies training at the Eldon B. Conklin Gouverneur Community Center on Oct. 10. The Town of Gouverneur Highway Department has its sand pile ready for the 2024-25 winter season. “We bought 1,000 less yards. As you can see the pile in the building is pretty full and we didn’t want more sitting outside, mixed with salt. We have 100 tons of salt on reserve up to the State DOT barn.” Supt. Wainwright also announced that the Town Highway Department had costly equipment breakdowns in the last month. “It really put a hurt on the repair budget. It’s pretty much history. We had some very expensive problems. One of the trucks had a major short in the dash, burnt a bunch of wiring. Just the wiring work alone was $1,500. It actually had burnt the wiring harness going to the back, ran all the lights in the back… We had an issue yesterday with one, an electrical problem on the firewall. Now I see why town barns burn down. I mean, that truck was just sitting there, idling and it quit. Come to find out, it was the wires to the tarp for the box. They were tucked down in by the transmission and up through the floor. They rubbed and they were actually like welded to the side of the transmission. The same truck, we’ve had other issues… There were very costly repairs in the last month. The excavator was stuck pretty good on the Stammers Road. We had to dig it out with a backhoe and get it pulled out and everything. It ruined one of the back doors on it, the panel doors that cover up the engine. It was $1,500 to replace that.” Supervisor Spilman then said, “These are all the trucks that were working to repair the storm damage.” Supt. Wainwright said, “Yes, every bit of it. These trucks have run steady since August. If they are not in Gouverneur, they are at some other township. The excavator spent more time in other townships than it spent in our own… because they had so much more damage than we had. It's been nonstop since that storm hit on that Friday night.”

Following the Town Highway Department Report, the Board approved the purchase of a John Deere tractor with a Diamond boom mower at $159,860.

Code Enforcement Report: CEO Rick Wood gave his monthly report (Sept. 1-30, 2024) as follows: “There have been 17 new permits, five of which were in the Town. They have been processed. The current number of permits for 2024 is 87, 62 in the Village and 21 in the Town. There are four operational permits. Inspections are going on in several locations in the town. The Wellness Building on Factory Street is one of the bigger ones. The shell is up. The roof is on. The parking lot material was down… they are moving along pretty good. I haven’t had any other complaints. I did receive one today, but that is going to be taken care of. Resolved complaints that I had last month, they were all taken care of. I am still in process on Pooler Street with some issues that they are dragging their feet with the repair on the back row of homes. They seem to be dragging pretty good. I am going to give them a shout here in the next two days to see what is going on there...”

Justice Report: Supervisor Spilman reported that the Gouverneur Town Justices did 182 new cases, and brought in $5,610. “It’s always busy,” Supervisor Spilman said.

The Board adopted Local Law No. 1 of 2024 authorizing Town Clerk Marion Bowhall to appoint up to three deputy town clerks. There was a public hearing on Oct. 8, and it was approved during the regular monthly town board meeting on Oct. 8.

The Board also adopted Local Law No. 2 of 2024 (Tax Cap Override). There was a public hearing on Oct. 8, and it was approved during the regular monthly town board meeting on Oct. 8.

The Town of Gouverneur Council approved a $25,000 microenterprise loan application from Naaman Lowry of D&B Masonry in Gouverneur to assist with business growth. The application also received approval through Development Authority of the North Country (DANC) and the Gouverneur Area Development Corporation (GADC) This is the third application approved in the last year. The microenterprise loans, funded through the State through the Town, are available to help local small businesses. “It’s a good program for a small town,” Supervisor Spilman said.

Supervisor Spilman also commented: “The Gouverneur Breast and Ovarian Cancer Walk on Oct. 5 was a huge success. Luckily, (Village of Gouverneur Mayor Ron McDougall) pulled some strings and got the pedestrian footbridge inspected by Bernier & Carr. Everything was good there, except for a little grout repair, which was minor.” For more information on the Gouverneur Breast and Ovarian Cancer Fund, visit www.gouverneurbreastovariancancerfund.com.

The Town of Gouverneur Council will next meet on October 25 at noon for the Economic Development meeting. The budget hearing will be held at 5 p.m. on Nov. 4. The next regular meeting will be held on Nov. 12., 6 p.m., at the Town of Gouverneur Offices Building. A public hearing on the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) will be at 5:45 p.m. on Nov. 12. For more information, call 315-287-2340.