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Village sets March 13 budget workshop; departments present equipment and program requests
Summary
Trustees scheduled a March 13 budget workshop and heard budget proposals from public works, police, fire and the village office including a potential dump-truck replacement (~$120,000), police uniform and event-OT increases, a $25,000 reimbursable county grant, and IT/cybersecurity and Wi‑Fi costs for village facilities.
The Menands Village Board set a public budget workshop for 6 p.m. on March 13 and heard departmental budget presentations and line‑item requests for fiscal year 2025–26.
The meeting focused on capital equipment and service lines that trustees will weigh ahead of the preliminary budget deadline in March. Officials said the public hearing on the budget must occur before April 15 and that a final budget must be adopted by April 30 (timeline discussed at the meeting).
Key departmental requests - Public Works: Mike Hedman, representing the Department of Public Works, said most line items stayed the same aside from inflationary increases. He identified a 2008 dump truck as the department’s priority replacement and said preliminary figures for a chassis and equipment could total roughly $120,000, with final quotes still pending.
- Police: A presenter identified as Ryan said the department seeks modest increases for accreditation, curriculum materials and uniforms. He asked that the uniform allowance be raised (he cited a typical prior allocation of $10,000 and a proposed increase to $13,500 to avoid overages) and proposed a $16,000 overtime line for special events. The department also noted a $25,000 Albany County grant that is reimbursable and for which the village must front the cost under current procedures.
- Fire: The fire presenter (David) outlined several equipment and maintenance needs that staff proposed including turnout gear replacement, thermal imaging cameras, hose replacement and a FEMA grant for apparatus purchase. The presenter said the village’s budget includes a 5% match for an $865,000 FEMA grant, and gave itemized estimates for turnout gear and thermal cameras included in the department’s request.
- Village office / IT: Village staff outlined technology and cybersecurity plans, including replacement network switches ($26,658), cybersecurity upgrades ($23,000) and the estimated cost to migrate from Google to Microsoft licenses and data ($24,750). The clerk’s office also proposed expanding electronic records scanning and adding two desktops and three desktop scanners. A proposed village‑wide employee assistance program (EAP) was budgeted at $2,000; staff also discussed an initial estimate of about $9,000 to provide Wi‑Fi to the park pavilion.
Timeline and next steps Board members requested that departments provide any missing backup documents; trustees said scanned summaries of each department’s requests would be posted to the shared drive. The board set a budget workshop for March 13 at 6 p.m. to review the preliminary budget before the public hearing and final adoption dates.
