Auditor report expected at next town meeting

by Susan Mikula Campbell
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, October 22, 2009

Independent auditors Drescher & Malecki will be presenting a report on Wheatfield’s end of year finances for 2009 and the outlook for reserve funds for the 2010 budget at the Nov. 16 Town Board meeting.

Among the items the auditors are expected to comment on is a report by Supervisor Timothy Demler at a budget work session last week that work on the town’s youth center went over budget and will affect the general fund surplus, which is used to help balance the budget. At the same time, the cost of the water/sewer project was under budget, but there will still be a deficit, according to Demler.

“It needs to be clarified. It needs to be looked at and fixed,” Town Attorney Robert O’Toole said about the discrepancies in figures at Monday’s regular Town Board meeting.

At the meeting, Demler also called for an audit of funds paid to the town engineers between 2007 and 2009; for computer services paid to the county between 2001 and 2003 and to a private contractor between 2004 and 2008; and on county insurance costs.

Demler’s $11.15 million budget could be his last. Robert Cliffe is the Republican candidate for supervisor and Sam Conti will be on the Democratic line in the November election. Demler is hoping to garner write-in votes.

The board on Monday passed a resolution freezing the budget line for the town historian for the remainder of the year.

“It’s politics,” Demler charged after the meeting.

However, Deputy Supervisor Kenneth Retzlaff said “Absolutely not” and went on to insist the move, like last month’s decision to drop busing for out-of-town seniors to town dances, was due to the board’s effort to watch how every penny is spent. “We’re going to have the audit done … it’s going to be close.”

Part of the mix is the substantial cut in the town attorney’s salary that Demler suggested as part of his budget. O’Toole supported Cliffe’s candidacy in the primary.

In other matters at Monday’s Town Board meeting:

•Recreation Director Edward Sturgeon reminded parents that the town’s annual Halloween party for local youth will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Community Center, featuring refreshments, games and a costume contest.

•Jennifer Caldwell, head of the Building Department, reported a request by Ryan Homes that the town’s ban on issuing the company building permits be lifted. Ryan has two permits pending. The board decided to uphold the ban until the drainage complaints of Larry and Tandia Parker of Kingfisher Lane in Wheatfield Lakes, which initiated the ban, are fully resolved, both to the satisfaction of the couple and town Highway Superintendent Arthur Kroening.

•Kroening reminded town residents to pile leaves on the edge of the road, not in the road where rain would make them slippery and possibly cause an accident. The town’s 2 a.m. to 6 p.m. parking ban to allow snow plowing will go into effect Nov. 15.

•No one spoke at a public hearing prior to the meeting on the residential windmill law, which was judged not likely to have a significant impact on the environment. The law would allow windmills, in connection with operable farms, through special use permits in areas zoned agriculture/residential.

“The Planning Board spent many meetings on this,” said Retzlaff. “We didn’t want a corporation coming in and proposing windmills and not being ready for them. We are ready.”

•Paul Cozad of the Firearms Permit Review Board reported that 26 people took the group’s recent muzzleloader course and that a pistol permit course is being considered for March due to many requests from town residents.

•Bernie Rotella, grant writer, was instructed to apply for a $35,000 state grant to cover half the cost of another hazardous household waste drop-off program this spring. Rotella also is seeking a grant to help cover the cost of a fire safety house built on a camper trailer to be used by the town’s fire departments in teaching youngsters how to escape from fires.

•Wendel Duchscherer Engineers reported that new owners of the carwash at Niagara Falls Boulevard and Schultz Road have requested that the Planning Board allow them to add a glass-enclosed dog wash facility. The Planning Board will hold a public hearing at 7:10 p.m. Nov. 4.

•Demler reported that painting of the CSX railroad bridge (“Willie is 40”) over Niagara Falls Boulevard most likely will have to wait until spring due to ongoing negotiations with the company over the added $28,000 cost of a flagman on the bridge. The company has budgeted $76,000 for the painting cost, but insists the town pay for the flagman.

One resident commented she would like to see the town pay for a flagman rather than “throw away” the nearly $15,000 the town already has paid for engineering costs.

•The board declared a negative declaration under SEQR, due to no apparent environmental impact from a proposed two-lot subdivision on Jarrett Drive. The preliminary plat map was approved. There will be no further subdivision of this parcel and a permanent turn-around will be installed at the north end of Hidden Ridge Lane before any house is built.