The evening of 2024-04-01 was the Honeoye Falls Annual Meeting, and before that the Public Hearing for next years Budget.
In the end, the budget was approved. Main increase drivers seemed to be impact of administrator retiring and hiring fire fighters during the day. And as was pointed out previously, the tax levy increase is 9.6%. Which yes, exceeds the cap. But the Village can do that if they go through the required steps (and as far as I can tell, they did).
Brian (current Administrator) was thanked for his many years of service. From a practical standpoint, many of his tasks sound like they will end up under the Mayor’s control. To such an extent, his salary is being increased (although the wording leaves open the option of decreasing it if/when a new administrator is found). I didn’t hear anyone say ‘recluse’ during that part of the meeting, although there were comments hinting to such earlier on. In practice though, Dan Harris (Deputy Mayor) ran that portion of the meeting. Rick (Mayor) clearly stepped back for the discussion on increasing his salary. It had the feel of at least trying to do the right thing, so I give them credit for that. Not an ideal situation, but we do what we can.
There were a handful of fire fighters in the room. As their staffing (as an organization, not necessarily the individuals in the room) was the other budget increaser, it seemed fitting. I doubt anyone (sane) wants to increase taxes, which is the logical outcome of increasing government spending. But if it’s what needs to be done to keep the fire department functioning, then it’s what needs to be done.
Meetings are being planned to talk with the community, to work on ways to manage this situation. I’m doubtful they can encourage enough volunteers to make a difference, so likely more about softening the blow of future tax increases. From where I’m sitting this problem has been gradually getting worse for a number of years. And it’s now at the point of needing paid staff, or not responding to calls.
The core problem here appears to be the lack of volunteers. This was attributed, in part, to the mandated training requirements. From my attempts to understand these requirements, they do feel prohibitive. More akin to a full time job, then part time volunteer. I can see the value in training, but not if it keeps people away. Better lacking in training, but plenty of community involvement, then an abundance of training, yet a lack of bodies.
One volunteer in particular was called out for his service, Ed Sheidlower. While he serves as the Ambulance Chief, that is still a volunteer position. At least today, with the way things are headed, I wonder how long that can last.
As an aside, the annual meeting usually draws a crowd. While there were a few people, it was noticeably below what I recall for past years. I offer no opinion on this, merely observing and wonder what the cause might be.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the April 1, 2024 Annual Meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.