Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Town of North Salem Town Board held a Regular Meeting and Worksession on November 25, 2025. The dual in-person and virtual meeting began at 7:00 PM at the Town Meeting Hall and featured three public hearings, the adoption of several local laws and resolutions, and an extensive worksession focused on the 2026 Tentative Town Budget.
Stop Sign on Stephen Road: A public hearing was held to consider a local law adding a stop sign at the intersection of Stephen Road and Valeria Circle. The Board member presenting the item explained that while a resident requested the sign, the Highway Department and Police Department had advised that an additional sign at that location was not appropriate due to traffic confusion. The hearing was closed.
Croton Falls Water District Improvement: A public hearing was held on the proposed increase and improvement of the Croton Falls Water District facilities, with a maximum estimated cost of $789,594. The Board provided a detailed project summary. The project involves the reconstruction of an existing 600-foot deep well (Well #4) which provides 18 gallons per minute, enough to cover the district's normal 15,000 gallon daily demand, along with radiological (uranium) and PFOS filtration. The Board noted that $100,000 in State funding had been secured from Senator Harkham and a $70-30 grant application was pending, with a decision expected in December. The work is driven partially by DEP aqueduct repairs that have reduced water availability. The hearing was closed.
Override Tax Levy Limit: A public hearing was held to consider a local law overriding the State's 2.3% tax levy limit to allow a 3.984% increase for the 2026 budget. The Board outlined the primary drivers of the increase: a State-mandated increase in employer pension contributions ($100k increase to approximately $524k total), a required town-wide reassessment update ($85k), Town Hall reconstruction debt service ($90k), and projected increases in employee medical premiums (currently $1.47M total). The Board debated the use of fund balance versus the override to preserve the town's credit rating and long-term fiscal health. The hearing was closed.
2026 Tentative Town Budget (Town Clerk): Town Clerk Maria Hlushko presented and defended her proposed budget. She requested adjustments to several revenue lines (clerk fees, vital statistics) and expense lines (office supplies, education). She provided an update on the transition to the cloud-based Laserfiche system, which the Board later approved. Key initiatives discussed included a full records inventory of the vaults, updating the records management policy, and implementing an employee performance review process, which the Clerk strongly advocated for.
2026 Tentative Town Budget (General): The Board reviewed the general budget, focusing on the Highway Department staffing changes (adding 2.5 positions including a mechanic), an increase in the employee medical buyout from $4,100 to $6,000, and the town's overall medical insurance costs ($1.47 million total, with employees contributing approximately $300,000).
BLS (Ambulance) Contract: The Board discussed a potential contract with Kurt for Basic Life Support (BLS) services. Estimated costs ranged from an initial quote of $191,000 to a WEMS quote of $199,000. The Board agreed to request more detailed cost breakdowns and a definitive proposal from Kurt before finalizing the budget.
Okay, I'd like to call the November 25th, 2025 town board meeting to order and we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of allegiance is in the flag of the United States of America. Okay. So we have a couple of public hearings. The first one is to go into uh uh chapter to amend chapter 220 B and T to add a stop sign at Stevens Road and the intersection of Valeria Circle. Um so this is uh local law to amend code of town of North Salem by amending chapter 220 entitled vehicles and traffic. Well, this is what we're doing. I don't know how you want to should I read the thing? No. What do you say yes? Uh being enacted by the town board, uh town of North Sound as follows. But this isn't really this it doesn't say when we're having it stuff. This isn't, I have the law here. Is it online that way? Both the public hearing notice and the law are posted. Yeah, let me go. It's just the one stop. Yes, because the okay. Notices here by given the town board town north salem will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, November 25th at 7 p.m. Or soon thereafter at the town hall meeting room 66 June Road or via Zoom link provided below to consider a local auto amend chapter uh submit the code of the town north salem by amending chapter 220 and title B and T, Section 220-6 and 220-22, and titled stop intersections to add a stop sign at the south end of Stephen Road at the intersection of with Valeria Circle. Public hearing location is obviously 66 June road and comments. Ummitted in writing prior to the public hearing will be read and entered into the record. A copy of the complete proposed local law may be viewed in the office of the town clerk at 270 Titicus Road, North Salem, New York, 10560, or at the town website. Uh at said hearing, all interested parties may attend and will be heard. The town of North Salem is committed to equal access for all citizens, anyone requiring commodities to attend or participate in the meeting is urged to call the town clerk's office at 914 66957 by order of the town board of town north salem, realisko town clerk. Okay. Um we did get some requests from uh a resident uh the part of me probably was a couple of them, but the email I got was to put a stop sign at this location. Uh we already have a stop sign here. We put one up, although we can't get tickets or anything, but there were kids playing in the area. She asked for another one, and um uh the highway department and the policeman over and and what they told me is it's not appropriate at that intersection. We either have it, you can't you can mark you can mark opposite sides, but you start doing angles and people get very confused with uh well it's a four-way stop to a you know who's supposed to do what so they told me it was not appropriate. So what we have is this one stop sign, and um if uh anybody has any comments, you can make them now. Did you have anybody send you anything on it? I just have the email that you followed me past it. Um does anybody have any comments? Nope. So we can close the public hearing then? Yep. Okay, so I'll close the public hearing and we can do the local law later if that's okay. Uh the the next one is um proposed uh improvement of the facilities of Crope Falls Water District. So let me just open that one. Am I reading it out of sequence? What the second one is the number two is the Crows Water District. I'll just do in the you're at