South Russell — Council spent much of its Nov. 10 meeting reviewing portions of the 2026 draft budget and discussing priority capital projects and equipment purchases.

Officials outlined an IT recommendation to favor an on‑site phone/server system over a cloud solution to avoid losing internal communications if internet service fails; the recommended long‑term amount discussed was approximately $60,000 with an initial budget placeholder of about $30,000 to $33,000 for next year. The police chief and staff emphasized continuity of internal radio and phone communications in outages.

Fleet and equipment were a major focus. The street commissioner recommended replacing a large plow truck with a smaller multi‑use truck quoted at $199,000 but budgeted at $190,000 to improve efficiency and enable additional resident services. Council also reviewed funding for a skid steer, pickup truck replacement ($50,000), and other machinery, weighing life‑cycle and operational tradeoffs.

On capital projects, council discussed the Hazelwood culvert project as a special road fund item with an estimated $700,000 construction cost plus about $135,000 for engineering. Council expects the work to span 2026–27 if approved and noted a $300,000 grant that reduces the village share. The Bell Road East paving project was presented with a construction estimate of roughly $1.825 million and grant/loan funding that would leave roughly $465,000 as the village share.

Council set funding placeholders for multiple items (microphone upgrade $10,000; service building garage doors $50,000; semi‑quincentennial events $8,400) and agreed to further committee work on items with uncertain quotes. The fiscal officer said a draft budget would be provided before the next meeting for further review and adjustments.

No final budget vote occurred; council members asked for additional cost confirmations, engineering estimates and follow‑up meetings to finalize the 2026 budget.