Valatie adopts $1.6M annual budget

VALATIE – The Village Board adopted the 2015-16 budget of $1.6 million at the regular meeting on Tuesday. Mayor Diane Argyle said it was within the state’s 2% cap on property tax levy increases. The budget shows a slight increase in spending over the current year.

Also at the May 12 meeting, the board also approved raising the price on tags for garbage collection. The price for stickers will go up by 50 cents starting June 1. The price for three-month stickers placed on garbage cans rented from the hauler will go up from $60 to $70.

Mayor Argyle said that raising the price was something the board discussed during the budget process and that board members had decided to raise it for this fiscal year.

“It’s still a bargain,” said board member Philip Bickerton of the trash pick-up.

The board also discussed the fact that after the new budget takes effect June 1, there will be no more payment plans offered to people who are late on paying their water bills. The mayor said the payment plan was a holdover for previous administrations. Mayor Argyle said residents can put a percentage down toward a late water bill and then have a year to pay the bill in full or water will be shut off. She also said that there is a penalty for late bill payments.

The board reviewed shut-off notices on some properties at the meeting.

Also at the meeting:

The board approved repainting some parking spots on Main Street and in the community parking lot on the corner of Main and Church streets for $700
Village-wide Clean-up Day is May 16. Residents must sign up at the village hall to have trash picked up curbside on Saturday morning. The board also approved hosting an Electronics Recycling Day June 27 from 8 a.m. to noon
The Valatie American Legion has donated new flags and flag poles for Glynn Square. The village will hold a services on Memorial Day at 9 a.m. at the square. There will also be a parade on Route 9 staring at 11 a.m. on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25
The board raised the fee for peddlers’ permits to $100 and added a $25 fee for bounced checks cashed by the village. The board also approved adding a $2 fee second-notice letters to residents who have not paid their village taxes.

The next Village Board meeting is Tuesday, June 9 at 7 p.m. in the Martin H. Glynn Building.

To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com.

A helping hand for those who served

April 25, 2022

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

Veterans and other volunteers assembled hygiene kits to help their comrades in need at the Stratton VA Medical Center. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

GREENVILLE — An assembly line of volunteers gathered this weekend to put together hundreds of hygiene kits that will be distributed to veterans at the VA hospital in Albany.

About three dozen local residents were at the American Legion Post in Greenville on Saturday to assemble nearly 300 bags filled with personal care items including razors, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, wet wipes, tissues, shave gel, toothbrush, toothpaste and socks.

The project is the brainchild of Sons of the American Legion member Will VonAtzingen, who applied for and was awarded a $2,000 grant, which paid for all the supplies.

“I wrote a grant from my personal life insurance policy,” VonAtzingen said. “The money was donated by the Independent Order of Foresters. As a member, I am entitled to write up to three $2,000 grants a year for community service and involvement.”

VonAtzingen has written several other grants for similar types of projects at the local schools, and this time around wanted to do something specifically for veterans.

“After becoming a member of the Sons of the American Legion, I got ahold of [First Vice Commander and Past Commander] Don Savino and said I wanted to do this,” VonAtzingen said. “Everyone on the executive board got behind me and we ran with it. It was a quick and easy set-up and we were done with 288 kits in 15 minutes.”

Some three dozen volunteers helped put the kits together. Melanie Lekocevic/Capital Region Independent Media

The kits were fully assembled on Saturday and were scheduled to be delivered to the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center on Monday. They will be given out to any veterans who need them, whether long-term residents on the hospital’s 9th and 10th floors, or veterans visiting the hospital for medical appointments.

Savino said the hygiene kits will help veterans know they have not been forgotten.

“We have many veterans that get lost in the shuffle due to economic reasons and trauma that they received back in their days of serving our country,” Savino said. “Whenever possible, we try to recognize and acknowledge what they have done for our country.”

Many veterans who go to the VA hospital for medical appointments are homebound and a kit with personal care essentials will be a big help to them, Savino said.

“Many of them may be housebound and unable to get out, so up at the VA every county has a van that transports veterans there for their appointments, and they will be given bags when they leave or when they enter,” Savino added.

Local residents including high school students, auxiliary members and veterans themselves assembled the kits in an efficient assembly line that finished the project in minutes.

“These items are being packaged and going up to the vets’ hospital to be given to veterans,” volunteer and U.S. Army veteran Jack Kelly said. “These are items they can always use.”

Richard Amedure, Republican candidate for the state Senate seat currently held by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-46, was among the volunteers helping out. Amedure, a veteran of both the U.S. Army and Reserves, said helping veterans is vital.

“This is so important for the community — veterans do sacrifice their lives,” Amedure said. “My wife and I were dating and I went to Germany while I was in the service and we managed to keep dating, but we lost two years together. It’s a huge sacrifice, so we need to do everything we can for the veterans to give back to them a little bit.”

American Legion Post Past Commander and current chaplain Jim Goode said the volunteer effort was also an important message for the community’s young people.

“Sometimes the younger generation doesn’t really see it, but this is a way for the American Legion to make sure we as a country don’t forget those who paved the way for our freedom,” Goode said.

Valatie adopts $1.6M annual budget

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