Williamson Supervisor’s Column
Anthony Verno
December, 2023
A few things to review. In the last 8 years the town has been awarded almost six million in grants. Much of it was for the new water plant, also pickle ball courts and EPA assessments of contaminated properties. The town has reviewed different grants that would assist the “uptown” area. Unfortunately, these grants have all been community income based. Williamson is over the federal income level and therefore does not qualify for these types of grants to assist the Business Improvement District.
The Christmas lights were absent from uptown this season. The town has never purchased Christmas light or decorations. The Business Improvement District has purchased the lights and decorations and the town assisted by putting them up. This year the lights and decorations needed to be ordered new and they were not, thus no lights or decorations. We are working to prevent this next year.
Along the same line are the Veteran banners. They look great. There are different legal issues to them, such as permission to install them on RG&E poles. We are currently exploring how to get official permission, training programs and equipment. It is not as easy as some people make it out to be. I encourage anyone that has a concern or question to call the Town Supervisor, 315-589-2038, to get the facts. Once again if you have questions/concerns please call the town hall offices.
The new water plant was substantially complete in December. Currently, the contractors are finishing up last-minute items. We were able to keep the borrowing down to 7.3 million dollars as we were able to get grants and use money we had saved for approximately 19 years. The town employees worked with Standard and Poors personnel to establish out credit rating which turned out “AA” which means high quality. We were able to get a 4.6% interest rate, less than the experts anticipated. Each user was assessed a “Water District Capital” charge. This is how we pay for the $7.3 million. The fee is determined by usage. Average single-family home is one “EDU.” The EDU cost is $105.77, which should go down next year. The new water plant will serve the community for many years to come.
The town has been working on replacing water lines and drainage issues in the Bennett Street, Circle Drive, Wayne, Stafford, Vick, Rasmussen, Ridgewood Circle area. A drainage study has been completed. The preliminary engineering study for water line replacement is being updated. These documents are needed to apply for grants. This is why the streets in this area have been patched and not resurfaced. If you have concerns call the Highway Superintendent. This will be a multi-year project and public meetings will be held once more details are known.
The town is in the process of hiring a Park Director. This year we were lucky enough to have Mike Bixby as a Temporary Director. One of the main reasons the park looked much better was we had more staffing to get things done. The park and parks functions have expanded and the staffing has not. I am hopeful this Park Director position will be able to expand into community activities.