Sleepy Hollow Board Passes $5.7M Capital Budget

Sleepy Hollow Trustee and Finance Chair Karin Wompa anticipated before the capital vote on Tuesday night that it would pass without a hitch -- the difficult surgery had already been done and she thought the Board was now on the same page with what "extra" municipal projects would get the go-ahead this year. 

The votes were unanimous -- with the exception of Trustee Susan MacFarlane, who was absent -- approving a Capital Budget that weighs at over $5.7M. The vast majority of it was taken up by an already approved new reservoir, requiring a very conservative stance for the rest of the departmental requests.

"Everything's at stake," Wompa had said previously.

Wompa made an announcement before the vote on what care this process took and she had many to thank for their efforts, including National RE/Sources developer Joseph Cotter for his contribution to our bulkhead, at a reported savings to the village of $141,000 and millions if we had to replace it entirely.

Wompa said:

As you know we will be voting on the capital budget tonight, In light of the huge investment we will be making this year for our water reservoir – the items included on this capital budget had to be carefully looked at.

As finance chair and a resident of Sleepy Hollow I’d like to thank the following people:

- The department heads, committee chairs and fire chiefs for their diligence in reviewing and submitting their requests

- Sara DiGiacomo and Anthony Giaccio for working with the committee and board members answering all our questions regarding tax impact 

- Sean McCarthy for exploring and finding alternate ways to address to structural needs on village property – which saved significant costs with this capital budget.

- And Joseph Cotter of National Resources, who, when I phoned National Resources to gather information about bulkheads and bulkhead design costs, Mr. Cotter graciously took the call, after some discussion about bulkheads. Mr Cotter offered to meet with Sean McCarthy, together with our DPW, Mr. Cotter and Mr. McCarthy worked out a solution to repair the bulkhead – at no cost from National Resources, all which saved the village $141,000 on this capital budget for a design plan and a couple of million dollars for a bulkhead replacement.

The approved capital budget is outlined here with contingency totals slightly higher than the actual estimated costs of issuing the projects. 

CAPITAL PROJECT REQUESTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013/2014

PARKING ENFORCEMENT

• Parking Meters $10,506

AMBULANCE CORP

• EMS Consultant Study $21,012

FIRE DEPARTMENT 

• Turnout Gear (Replace 12 sets nearing life exp) $37,822
• Radio Upgrade $18,911

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

• Safe Routes to School (Grant) $231,132
• IT Upgrades/Servers at Village Hall $21,012
• Senior Center Parking Lot $7,880

PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT

• Sykes Park Improvements (Paint BB Crt, Benches, Playground Resurfacing, Backboards, Storage) $29,679

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

• Water Tank/Reservoir $4,727,700
• Water Pipe re-lining $525,300
• Tank Replacement for JetVac $94,554
• Cathotic Protection System for Pump Station #10 $11,557

TOTAL AMBULANCE CORP $21,012

TOTAL FIRE DEPT $56,732

TOTAL GENERAL ADMIN $260,024

TOTAL PARKS & REC $29,679

TOTAL DPW $5,359,111