Find out about BEEP and how it can help village residents save money
by Kristina Gabalski
The 2013-2014 Tentative General Village of Bergen budget cuts spending by $10,000 and includes a tax rate of $5.62/per $1,000 assessed valuation – the same as the current 2012-2013 budget. Total appropriations in the plan are $710,452.69.
A budget hearing is planned for April 10 at 6:45 p.m. Village Board members will vote on the budget that same evening at their regular meeting.
Village Administrator/Clerk/Treasurer Cortney Gale says the budget eliminates one full time Department of Public Works position and explains that the process this year is ahead of schedule.
“We made the budget more streamlined,” Gale says. “We examined what was spent in the past … we focused on what was used – as opposed to what was budgeted.”
Gale describes the budget as “bare bones,” but in the event of unexpected expenses, “… there are strong contingency funds in the budget and healthy unappropriated fund balances.”
Like all municipalities, the village is facing challenges from rising state retirement and health care costs, Gale says.
Sales tax revenues have helped the village, Mayor Ralph Marsocci explains. “We’ve seen sales tax revenues go up the last four years,” partly due to increases in the cost of goods, but also because of stepped-up auditing efforts by the state, he explains.
Money has been budgeted for street repairs on Munger Street, including sidewalks, Gale and Marsocci say. Ball fields at Hickory Park are slated for refurbishing and lights on Lake Street will be converted to LED, making them, “brighter and more energy efficient,” Marsocci says.
The village has its own electric department and the Mayor and Gale say the village recently took a big step when it withdrew from the Independent Energy Efficiency Program (IEEP) and created its own Bergen Energy Efficiency Program (BEEP).
“We decided we could do it ourselves much more cheaply,” the two say.
The program is funded directly from a small portion taken from electric bills and set aside for energy efficiency initiatives.
Gale says a $36,000 program last year provided free attic insulation. IEEP Administrative costs were $12,000. Those administrative costs will now go directly back to the community and allow the village to create energy efficiency programs that are tailor-made for Bergen. The Village Office began running the BEEP program March 1.
Mayor Marsocci and Gale say village residents can stop in at the Village Hall and find out about many energy efficiency programs. There are rebates of $75 available for purchasing energy efficient appliances and for having old appliances removed, for example. Free halogen light bulbs have also been available.
The Byron-Bergen Library, which is located in the village, recently replaced all 58 light fixtures with high-efficiency ones, “They did the whole library, cut the lighting cost in half and it’s nice and bright,” Mayor Marsocci says.
Additionally, he reminds area residents who routinely drive past the Village Hall on Route 19, that there is a DMV box outside near the curb in which to drop off registration renewals and other items for the DMV.
“Someone at the DMV comes twice a week from Genesee County and picks it up,” Gale says.
Both Gale and Mayor Marsocci add that relations between the Town of Bergen and the Village are excellent. Regular joint town/village board meetings are held and a committee consisting of two trustees and two council persons meets monthly.
“The supervisor and I meet once a month,” Marsocci says and adds that both DPWs also help each other out with projects.
“We’re looking forward to doing even more,” he says.
