Roslyn estates eyes fire contracts

Max Zahn
Roslyn Estates Mayor Jeffrey Schwartzberg

The Roslyn Estates Board of Trustees on Monday held a public hearing on a proposed $192,100 payment to renew the village’s one-year fire service contracts, Village Clerk and Treasurer Bryan Rivera said.

The contracts pay for fire services provided by the Roslyn Highlands Fire Department and the Roslyn Rescue Fire Department.

Last year’s contracts cost $186,671. The proposed payment for this year marks a 3 percent increase, a difference of $5,429, Rivera said.

“My understanding is that the increase in costs is for equipment like firetrucks,” Rivera added.

He said the village has room for the cost in its budget, since it typically anticipates an increase in the cost of the fire contracts.

At Monday’s meeting, the board also approved a Feb. 21 deadline for residents to file property tax grievances, Rivera said. Residents can start filing the grievances on Feb. 1.

Rivera estimated that 40 to 50 property tax grievances are filed in Roslyn Estates each year.

Rivera said a $650,000 bond approved last month for road replacement and repair is “progressing.”

The village will have a bond sent out to bidders in the beginning of February, with a bond sale to follow on Feb. 21, he said.

The village will look to close on the bond by March 1 and start the work shortly thereafter.

A target date to finish the roadwork is late May or early June.

“The biggest factor when it comes to roadwork is weather,” Rivera said. “If weather cooperates it could be done sooner. Or vice versa, if there is bad weather in the spring, that could potentially delay it.”

“It’s important to me we don’t have construction in the village over the summer,” Roslyn Estates Mayor Jeffrey Schwartzberg said last month.

“People want to be outside in the summertime flipping hamburgers and having people over; they don’t want a bunch of paving trucks,” he added.

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