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Supervisor outlines state policy changes that could affect Fenton projects and costs
Summary
Supervisor David Gunster briefed the board on recent state developments — SEQRA revisions, a proposed water/sewer grant approach, DOL prevailing-wage expansion, FOIL concerns, a data-center moratorium now with the Governor, an 18% Excellus premium increase, and a $30,000 cut to BOCES summer funding.
Supervisor David Gunster reported on a June 25 meeting of the Broome County Association of Towns (BCAOT) and summarized state-level developments the town should monitor.
Gunster said the State has introduced changes to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) that include a four-page set of amendments intended to speed certain reviews and to accelerate construction of so-called “lower income housing.” He said Lead Agencies would face a 120-day deadline to determine eligibility for new SEQRA exemptions and that applicants would have the right to seek court relief if agencies missed the deadline.
On public-notice rules, Gunster said an attempt to remove the newspaper-posting requirement for public hearing notices was withdrawn after opposition from newspapers; he added that municipalities statewide spent about $8 million on public hearing notices last year.
Gunster said the Department of Labor has added custom-made structures as a prevailing-wage category, which could limit vendor choices because contractors must appear on the Department of Labor list for prevailing-wage projects. He also said the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) has approved 18 solar development projects even where local laws exist.
He flagged growing concern about "harassing FOILs" targeting municipalities and said the only current municipal recourse is to deny requests; he encouraged legislative review of FOIL to establish clearer limits. He reported that a yearlong moratorium on data center development passed both the State Senate and Assembly and is now with the Governor.
On local fiscal impacts, Gunster reported that Excellus informed the town its health-insurance premium will increase by approximately 18 percent; he also said Broome County BOCES cut $30,000 in summer-program funding, so the town will not receive summer help via that program this year. Gunster advised municipalities to work with their banks to sign up for Positive Pay to reduce exposure to check-fraud schemes involving altered ("whitewashed") checks.
These items were presented as informational updates; the board did not take formal action on state policy matters during the meeting.
