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Published on: 3/21/2007
Last Visited: 3/22/2007
New York Mills trustee and fire commissioner John Bialek said the villages calculated the 2007 request using assessed valuations of properties within the town, because this is the way school and town taxes are determined.
The town's new plan doesn't make sense, Bialek said.
"It's someone putting an arbitrary number out there without any formula," he said, adding that he thinks the town should distribute the money it collects in the same year it's collected.
But Brooks and Sullivan, who voted against the increase in November, said a 46 percent increase in one year is too steep.
The villages do not adequately document their fire expenses to the town, Sullivan said.
The town needs to take an increasing responsibility for village fire costs, Bialek said, because while the populations in the villages have stagnated, the population living in the part of Whitestown outside the villages has grown.
Brooks said it's likely members will vote tonight on fire contracts.
"It's been discussed for the past four months," he said.