ColonieTown Supervisor Paula A. Mahan
State of the Town Message
ColonieTown Board Meeting
January 19, 2012
Good evening. Before we begin tonight’s Town Board meeting, I would like to share my 2012 State of the Town address with you. I also want to thank all of you for being here this evening. Your interest in Town government and your commitment to the community are all part of what makes Colonie such a great place to live and do business. Thank you for being part of what makes Colonie one of the best Towns in the nation.
I am really excited to begin my third term as Town Supervisor, and I am honored by the trust that has again been placed in me. When I first assumed office in 2008, I vowed to bring fiscal stability back to the Town of Colonie. I am proud to report that we have succeeded. I am especially proud that we haveeliminated the Town’s inherited deficits in just four years. This was a huge accomplishmentthat took a lot of hard workand determination. Next, I hope to begin the process of building a much-needed reserve fundto provide the Town with flexibility and security in the years ahead. I can tell you that it has beenvery challenging to run a Town the size of Colonie with no rainy day fund!
Speaking of rainy days, I would like to take a minute to acknowledge all those who helped Colonie deal so successfully with the effects of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. We were fortunate to be spared the worst of these storms, but there were still very significant impacts town-wide. Thanks to the Town employees and volunteer firefighters who workedliterally around the clock, our response was excellent. I am proud of the job they all did to keep us safe. So please join me now in recognizing the efforts of the members of our Police, Emergency Management, EMS, Fire Services, Public Works Departments, and our volunteer fire departments, who worked tirelessly throughout the storm.
I am also very proud that Colonie once again ranked in the top ten of the nation’s safest communities. As you all know, it’s quite challenging to be number one forever. However, continuing to maintain a position in the top ten is certainly a major achievement. Public safety has been one of my top priorities since day one, and I assure you it will always be a top priority. That is why I remain committed to funding programs that strengthen and support the community, including those for our youth and seniors.
Colonie’s Police Chief, SteveHeider, has always been the first to say that public safety is more than a matter of policing. It requires the involvement of the entire community. All of you help to make Colonie a safeplace to live and do business, andI thank everyone of you for helping us to achieve our goals. Your business, professional, and volunteer effortshave helped to build a remarkably stable and supportive community here in Colonie. Tonight we have Deputy Chief John Teale representing the Colonie Police Department. Please join me in giving a special recognition to the brave men and women of the Colonie Police Department. Thank you, John.
Colonie has also been blessed with an EMS Departmentrecognized many times overfor excellence. Among its manysuccesses, Colonie’sEMS has consistently reducedthe time it takes to respond to emergency calls. Last year, as part of a study of the locations of emergency calls, our EMS staff began routinely positioning emergency vehicles in strategic locations throughout the Town. This allowed for even faster response times. As the demographics have changed over time, we felt it was important to conduct a study to determine ways to improve our EMS services. This study, led by Deputy Chief Peter Berry, is being conducted by members of our EMS and Police Departments, and I will be presenting the results later this year. We are always looking for ways to improve our service delivery, and this study will provide us valuable information for the future. Deputy Chief Berry is with us here this evening representing the EMS Department. Thank you, Peter.
We are also fortunate to live and do business in a Town with such excellent fire department services. Our Fire Services staff and our 12 volunteer fire departments throughout the Town assure our residents of an outstanding response to fires and other serious incidents. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our volunteer fire fighters and their families for their outstanding service.
Once again this year, I also want to acknowledge a huge debt of gratitude to our Town employees. For 2012, we asked our Town Departments to reduce their budgets by 15 percent while at the same time safeguarding the serviceswe provide. I am proud to say we achieved this goal, but we could not have done it without the flexibility and creativity of our Town employees. Change is never easy, and I want to thank all our Town employees for their hard work in helping us find new ways to deliver critical Town services with an even sharper eye on the bottom line.
As we reflect on where Colonie is headed in 2012 and beyond, nothing has been more productive than the landfill operating agreement we signed last year. As you probably know, in Julythe Town entered into a 25-year operating agreement with Waste Connections, a forward-thinking and community-minded corporation that is a leader in the waste management industry. But let me just say once again for the record –and perhaps at the risk of sounding like a broken record –the Town still owns the landfill!
The landfill operating agreement will generate more than $100 million over the 25-year life of the contract and is a great step forward for the Town for several reasons. First, it allowed us to secure one of the Town’s most valuable assets for years to come, while at the same timesaving taxpayers millions of dollars in current and future financial obligations. These obligations included a cost of approximately $20 million forthe future landfill closure. The agreement also means we need not incurdebt for future capital improvements and equipment at the landfill. That is a huge savings for us going forward.
Second, the agreement provides Colonie with guaranteed annual payments over the life of the agreement. That means that the Town canrely on guaranteed annual landfill revenue for 25 years, at a time when landfill revenues have decreased and are likely to continue decreasing as the waste management industry becomes even more competitive. In addition, the Town retainsits portion of the waste-to-energy revenuenow generated at the landfill. Previously, thiswaste-to-energy revenue was used to offset landfill operating costs, so this is another very positive outcome for the Town.
Third, the landfill operating agreement has allowed the Town to eliminate the$21 million inherited deficit through 2010, paving the way for the Town to begin building the reserves necessary for sound fiscal management. Despite the rumors and false information, the deficit has been eliminated and we move forward from a position of much greater strength. Currently we are closing our books for 2011, and we are cautiously optimistic that we are continuing on a positive trend despite the weak economy.
The landfill operating agreement, however, is only one of the actions we’ve taken to put the Town back on solid financial ground. I am very proud to report that in 2010 and 2011, we reduced the Town budget by almost $2 million by taking an extremely conservative approach to every expenditure and following our ten-year financial plan. We also reduced the size of Town government through attrition, early retirement, and departmental consolidations.
For 2012, I am proud to report that we will again realize significant savings in the Town’s budget. We will save about $1million on salaries and wages and $2.8 million in contractual expenses. For instance, the transfer of former landfill employees into the Department of Public Works means that the Town is now able to perform services that were previously contracted out, such as the Town’s curbside lawn and leaf pick-up and some snow-plowing and salting routes.
Even though the Town has now achieved a fiscal stability almost impossible to imagine four years ago,we nevertheless face challenges in the year ahead. We will again strive to live within the 2 percent tax cap, which is not an easy task. Fortunately, sales tax revenues are beginning to rebound, which will help our bottom line, but we also expect to see continued increases in health insurance and mandated contributions to the NYS pension fund. So, for the foreseeable future, we must continue to bevery conservative.
Another very important development in 2011 was that the Town’s total assessed value increased by $31.7 million, allowing us to reduce the 2012 property tax rate by half a percent. This is a result of new residential and commercial construction, which underscores the fact that Colonie continues to be a place where people want to live and do business. Although the economy is still challenging in many ways, it is encouraging to see the variety of new development occurring in Colonie.
In fact, we have 1,100 new residential approvals in the pipeline now, and I am pleased to say that they include the full range of residential options, including single family houses, townhouses, condominiums, and senior housing.
The healthy level of new development in our Town is also a reflection of the pro-development policies we have implemented in the last four years. We are continually analyzing and streamlining our project review process so projects can move forward more quickly. Recently, we have instituted CityWorks, an online project tracking system, and are actively working to make the permitting process more user-friendly. The suggestions we received from our Small Business Advisory Council over the past few years have helped us to increase the efficiency of both our planning and building processes. At this time, I would like to thank Diane LaCivita for her service in chairing the Small Business Advisory Council.
Looking back, one of the first projects to benefit from the use of town Designated Engineers was the new The Fresh Market, which went from concept to final approval in a matter of months. The Colonie location has proven very profitable for the company. Perhaps Trader Joe’s looked at the profitability of The Fresh Market before deciding to locate in Colonie. I have heard they do very careful research before expanding into a new location. Now we are excited that the rest of Fresh Market Commons is being developed and that both a new Home Goods and a new Hallmark Store will be located there. We look forward to these new stores opening very soon. In addition, we now anticipate a Sabor Brazilian Steakhouse to open at the former Mariana Restaurant site on Route 155. Their plans call for extending the look of the landscaping at Fresh Market Commons to their location around the corner.
We are also seeing other significant commercial construction. This year we will see a new 20,000 square-foot office headquarters on Sand Creek Road, which will be home to Funeral Directors Support Services, Inc. and a truly beautiful new Rumors Salon and Spa on Route 9, completing Phase IIof the Village of New Loudon project. We will also see a new Crisafulli Warehouse on Old Niskayuna Road and a new Fairfield Inn on Forts Ferry Road and Wade Road Extension. Other projects in the works are several new banks and the CapCom Federal Credit Union Headquarters on Loudon Road.
This year, we will also see a major expansion of the Latham Price Chopper to become Price Chopper’s flagship store, expanding its retail operation by about 10,000 square-feet as well as creating an exciting new cooking school and outdoor patio at the front of the store.
New construction is certainly an indicator of success, but we also constantly strive to promote healthy redevelopment of abandoned and under-utilized existing properties. We were very excited this year to learn of a proposed redevelopment of the old Starlite Theatre site into a new high-tech office complex, which will revitalize along-neglected site with a minimum impact on traffic.
This year will also bring redevelopment of the old Dakota Steakhouse site on Route 7 into a Joe’s Crab Shack, another new presence that has excited Colonie residents. We were also excited this year to see demolition of the building commonly known as Sebastian’s, for many years a persistent eyesore on Route 7. Demolition and removal of this unsightly structure were made possible only after the Town adopted a tough new Abandoned and Vacant Real Property Law in 2011.
We have several successful redevelopment projects on Wolf Road, including Trader Joes and Ted’s Fish Fry, a new Hannoush Jewelers at the former Lexington Grill, and a new addition and façade renovation at DeNooyer Chevrolet. The new Stewart’s Shop on Route 9 is open, and a few other new Stewarts are in the works. All of this activity tells me that we are still considered a great place in which to invest and do business.
Understanding that redevelopment is a key component to our continued economic growth, in 2011 we instituted a shortened review process for redevelopment projects under an acre in size which also provides for automatic referral to the Colonie IDA to determine their eligibility for special financing options.
We have consistently focused redevelopment efforts along the Route 5 Corridor, with notable success. A Corridor Study completed in 2011 demonstrated that Route 5 is bordered by some of the region’s most densely populated residential areas and that future development needs first and foremost to be compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods. We also have a key economic development tool in the Railroad Avenue Revitalization Plan,in which the Town is participating with AlbanyCounty and the Town of Guilderland.
This year, among several redevelopment projects that came to fruition on Route 5, we have a new Futia’s Formal Wear at1285 Central Avenue, which was previously an abandoned dry cleaners. Mach’s Treasures Antiques came to an existing property at 1274 Central Avenue, and the South Colonie Speedwash opened for business in a remodeled property at 2017 Central Avenue.
As you can see, we have been working hard to turn our economic development goals into realities,but we still have work to do. We are hopeful this year that we will finally see major renovation of the Latham Traffic Circle by DOT, and we continue to focus on redevelopment of some of our more challenging sites, such as Latham Circle Mall and Tobin’s First Prize.
As a result of our economic development efforts, we estimate that 1,200 new jobs were created in Colonie last year. These include jobs created by new businesses, by expansions of existing businesses, and construction jobs. I think that’s a pretty good track record when the entire nation is struggling to create jobs and return people to work.
I would like to take a moment to thank our Planning and Economic Development Director, Joe LaCivita, and our planning staff as well at the Town’s Planning Board for their continued efforts to bring smart growth and positive change to Colonie. Thank you, Joe.
It is really exciting to see so much new building, which is a reflection of the many benefits we offer as a Town. We are anunusually beautiful and well-maintained Town with one of the lowest tax rates in the region. We have outstanding schools. Our many beautiful Town parks offer a wonderful range of options for recreation and outdoor activity, and we offer many other outstanding services to our taxpayers.
But in a large Town, we must be ever-vigilant about maintaining our infrastructure, andI want to comment on the great success so far of our five-year paving and drainage improvement program. After just two years, we have completed 74 stormwater management projects and repaved more than 26 miles of road. (Incidentally, I think I must have walked all 26 miles of those roads last fall, and I found residents very happy to have their roads repaved!)
Also in 2011, we received a grant from National Grid underwriting 65 percent of a project to install energy-efficient light fixtures in MemorialTown Hall. With more than $10,000 in energy savings each year, the Town will earn back its $17,000 investment in less than two years. This project, along with previously completed projects, the new HVAC system at the Library and a new boiler at the Community Center, are part of our long-range energy savings plan.
In tough economic times it can be a temptation to let infrastructure projects simmer on the back burner, but we are committed to improving the Town’s infrastructure. And we will continue to search out alternative funding sources that can help us do the job with the least impact on our taxpayers.
This year, we even hope to create some new infrastructure, by building a new passive park on River Road. The plan is to demolish the old Latham Water Treatment Plant and build a new energy-efficient passive park. The project will be undertakenin partnership with the Colonie IDA at no cost to the Town. The park will expand recreation opportunities on the beautiful Mohawk River– a goalarticulated in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan.