Here’s a great problem to have … the Town of Cornwall recently received a $50,000 grant for community programming, secured by Assemblyman Chris Eachus, and now they’ve got to find something to spend it on.

“I think this is the first time we’ve had a grant like this for programming instead of capital projects,” Supervisor Josh Wojehowski said this week. He spoke at a nearly two-hour meeting last week (August 13) where the Town Board worked through a variety of agenda items that were to be on their business meeting agenda this week (August 20).

“It’s for youth, senior and adult programming,” Wojehowski added, and not to be used for staff. “We’ll have to be creative in how we set up a budget for it.”

In another money matter the board will be deciding on in the weeks and months ahead, the board discussed if the town wants to continue to provide health insurance for part-time elected officials. Cornwall does not offer health insurance to part-time employees.

“Is this a benefit that’s fair to offer to part-time elected officials when we don’t offer it to part-time employees?” Councilwoman Karen Edelman-Reyes asked. She said she’d like to see how much the current policy affects the town’s annual budget before deciding. It was noted at the meeting that a single-family plan of health insurance currently costs the town about $32,000 a year (about $8000 is paid by the employee, or elected official).

Wojehowski noted that area municipalities are somewhat split on providing health insurance to elected officials – Cornwall-on-Hudson does not, New Windsor does.

The supervisor brought the topic up as he, and other board members “look to reign in costs”, particularly when things, like health insurance premiums keep increasing. “I wanted to raise the issue because some of these costs are unsustainable,” he added.

Councilwoman Virginia Scott asked if other insurance providers – the town’s insurance is through New York State – had been investigated, possibly at a lower cost.
It was also noted that the supervisor and town clerk are considered full-time employees, per the state’s standard workday filings.

In several other money matters from the meeting:

• The meeting kicked off with a discussion about senior tax exemptions. The board will be looking at current exemptions and the possibility of tweaking those so that more seniors can take advantage of them in years ahead. Wojehowski said they’ll hopefully act on the matter in September and have a public hearing on the topic, before adopting in October. The proposed new amounts are available to look at in the meeting documents, available at www.cornwallny.gov.

• A $4000 request from the Cornwall Youth Committee to fund the October 5 Color Run for local families will be filtered through the Recreation Department, it appears. The Recreation Department will serve as the sponsor of the event, with the Youth Committee running it for the town.

• The board was to vote this week on spending $17,500 for a new and upgraded audio recording system for the Cornwall Police Department. The CPD has a $65,257 grant from the state to use for things like that. Another use for that bigger pot of money, Wojehowski said, may be some more electronic speed signs. “Residents have asked me about them in several areas,” he said.