Broome Draws Salt Shed Specs

By Joshua Walther

BROOME - On Wednesday evening, the Broome Town Board held a meeting to discuss the future of the deteriorating salt shed roof, as well as their equalization rate and a potential lot line adjustment law.

The salt shed has been a topic of discussion for several months, as Highway Superintendent Jason Wayman has reported that the whole roof is leaking and is in generally bad shape.

After last month’s meeting, where the Board wanted to have the matter looked into further, Town Supervisor Steve Weinhofer reached out to Dan Crandell to have him survey the roof.

Mr. Crandell is a trusted engineer and the former Commissioner of Public Works on the county level, and he has extensive knowledge of the shed, according to Supervisor Weinhofer.

Once he walked through the site, he reportedly agreed to draft bid specs for a rough quote estimate of $2,500.

“That’s not too bad,” said member Carter Warner at the meeting, to which Supervisor Weinhofer noted that although the price sounds high at first, it’s a good deal “for the market.”

With the Board finding no complaints with Mr. Crandell or his work so far, they passed a motion to allow up to the amount specified. Once the bid specs are drawn up, the Town will be able to move forward in replacing the whole roof.

In other news, Supervisor Weinhofer explained that their assessor, Robert Breglio, has continued to battle with the state for their desired 100% equalization rate.

Over the past few meetings, both the Board and Mr. Breglio have stated that there is no reason for Broome to be below 100%, continually citing their previous years as one of the few towns in the county to achieve such a rate.

Now, after reaching out to a supervisor with the Office of Real Property Tax Services, the state has confirmed that Broome may go out at 100% once again.

Supervisor Weinhofer elaborated that this was a net positive, saying that since the other municipalities in the Middleburgh school district are seeing their own rates plummet, Broome will end up paying less in school taxes while the others pay more.

Finally, Mr. Warner brought up the fact that Broome is the only town within the county to have no lot line adjustment law, but he’s getting some pushback from the Planning Board to implement one.

After a brief discussion, Supervisor Weinhofer and the rest of the Board made an official request to have the Planning Board look into the pros and cons of having such a law and asked them to bring forward a proposal if the majority of their members support it.