Village Budget Issue? Fact -It's Actually Back on Track Toward Improved Ratings

Washingtonville - Village is Getting an Interior Design Facelift

It doesn't take much to brighten up an official space after years of dings and errant marks. A new coat of paint has graced the Washingtonville Village Hall Meeting Room. A bucket of paint and brush makes quite a difference, and they're not done yet.

News & Events Discussed At last Monday's meeting:

Steve Presser turns over the Deputy Mayor position to Vernon Coleman. Mayor DeVinko has made it a practice to rotate whomever is Deputy Mayor after each election, and this time around it is Vernon Coleman. He is known best for his work obtaining Village Grants for a number of important Village projects during his tenure. Both Trustees were sworn in by Deputy Clerk, Michelle

Reif on April 6th.

Steve Presser gets a rest this tenure from his hard work as Deputy Mayor.

He will continue his work, including his important link as Liaison to the Washingtonville Police Department.

New Police Officer Sworn In

Matthew Reynolds is joining the Washingtonville Police Department. He will

begin with a salary of $69,880.

 Sewer Budget Item Argued

A quarterly sewer fee of $25 per residence was added after Comptroller DiNapoli’s regular review by NY Budget office had commented that they thought the Village's estimate of income for the Water & Sewer Department was on the low side. This fee therefore amounts to $100 per year. While a few residents at the meeting complained about the $25, it exists because it is critical that the Village makes payments on time for the $1,160,000 Bonds they secured to make the Village solvent and the payment schedule is for 5 years. They are simply not taking a chance that kind of shortfall occurs again. It was importrant that the Village documented the extra $25 fee as a response to the concern voiced by the budget office. The Public Hearing on this new fee is remaining open for comment at the April 20th Board meeting at 7PM.

Because of this and grant monies secured since they took office, the loan that the Village took to restore financial stability has resulted in a lot of progress, and they reserved 199K of interest on the residual part of the loan for any potential emergency or budget category showing weakness during this year - (which to date has not shown any likelihood other than the safety excess that the sewer fee now adds). This reserve emergency fund, was recommended and assuages forthcoming concern from the State over any shortfall in the near future. While residents paid a hefty increase in taxes last year (14.93%) during the time that it took to correct the data about the missing funds of the previous administration (attributed to mismanagement rather than illegal intent), the fiscal condition IS NO LONGER CATEGORIZED AS AN OFFICIAL FISCAL STRESS as was asserted by one resident, and this year's tax increase dropped to 4% continuing Washingtonville's progress in fiscal responsibility.

Two residents, recommended that the board tighten its belt and stick to infrastructure projects in the future to prevent any other new costs. Mayor Devinko reminded them that the extra recreation features given to residents this past year (including Sewell Park, Pickleball Courts etc.) were all completely covered by grant monies and recreation fees collected from housing developers when their projects are completed, (which this past year included Rieger Homes). Mayor DeVinko also pointed out that the Pickleball Courts at Vern Allen Park have been reopened and are in busy use.

Grant monies will also be used to fund this year’s Independence Day fireworks. He also praised the Easter celebration activities’s success at Vern Allen Park, organized by the Village’s Events Committee. Once again this event broke attendance records, in spite of the cold and windy day.

Again, the statement by one resident about the Village currently being in a Comptroller Office category of “Fiscal Stress” is NOT accurate. While the village had been categorized that way when  this board took office, the fiscal stress designation was been removed… some time ago.  In fact, a recent report from the Comptroller's office stated that NO municipalities in Orange County are currently designated as "In Fiscal Stress" DiNapoli did add concern over numerous municipalities with tardy reports. However, as noted in the 2 images below, with  numerous years of incomplete financial reports prior to this board’s election, special auditors had to be hired to search through records and boxes full of paid and unpaid bills and hundreds of budget items that had not been categorized properly by the previous administration. This was was quite a nightmare for both Village staff and the Auditors to go through to recreate years of proper previous reports, (including 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 and it's actually impressive that it has mostly been achieved. Several of those reports have already been sent to the State and this work is very near completion. 2023 is in the special auditors’ hands, and is expected to be sent to the Comptroller's office soon.

Remember these boxes? This is the condition the current board

walked into when they first took office a few years ago, along with

no functional accounting program. Now they have a top of the line

Edmunds accounting system and training so that many

of the required reports are generated automatically.

This makes the current Board's work clear ...Moody had removed the Village's rating and - As of January 16, 2024 the reports that still needed to be done included 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Outside auditors have completed all of these except for 2023 which is near completion.

New Walden Savings Bank Sign Design Elicits Close Approval Vote

Walden Savings Bank's beautiful welcoming sign was driven over this past Winter and completely demolished. All that is left is 1 post and about 7 ft. to its left the holder for the second post

The design for their new sign has a few minor changes, and was given a strict

review by Board members at Monday's session. The sign that was obliterated was already "pre-existing & non-conforming" since it had been put up long before the recent new sign code was finalized, and with urging from the audience the Walden Savings Bank Welcome Sign was approved in spite of the few changes.

The quandary of the discussion was whether it would be fair for a very longstanding sign that fit code when originally erected should be required to change color and size, and then would have been incongruent with Walden Headquarters and other branches since Walden management wants all of their signs to match this design.  That seemed like a no-brainer to most of the residents present at the meeting, since it would essentially be the same as their former non-conforming status.  It was a tough decision though, since it would set a precedent.  But it wasn't the bank’s choice to rebuild their sign It had been crashed to pieces. The mostly familiar design is attractive and a fond view for many residents who have been Walden Savings Bank customers for dozens of years, so the Washingtonville Board approved the Walden Savings Bank sign’s design, albeit by the slim margin of 3 Yes votes to 2 No votes.

Will this mean that if some other business has to replace its sign it will be able to make anything more than a very tiny change? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Lastly, during painting and cleaning the Meeting Room area the US Flag and the Village Flag had been temporarily moved around, and for the second time in a month a resident pointed out that it meant that the United States Flag ended up standing a little lower than the Village Flag. In a patriotic colonial village like Washingtonville, things like that don't go unnoticed, and chances are that it will not happen again. In fact, a special stand may be built for it.

For those looking to participate in Washingtonville's Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 25 -Please call Maureen DeVinko at 845-742-4621 She will be able sign you up, give you the time and place to meet and help direct you to others who else can assist you in preparing for the Event.

The Parade begins at 10AM at Washingtonville High School, down Route 94. It makes a left turn onto Arrowpoint Lane and then a right turn on Ahearn Boulevard and ends at the Firemans Memorial Park. Stay tuned for more updates.