By JEANETTE WOLFBERG
HUDSON–The Columbia County Board of Supervisors acted regarding high school sports achievements, short term rentals, 11 Warren Street, firefighting education, Columbia-Greene Community College (CGCC), and student loan payment support at their meeting August 14, where they also heard a presentation on housing needs.
The county recognized Neil Howard III, who graduated this year from Taconic Hills High School, for outstanding track and field accomplishments. It also recognized the Chatham Central School District baseball team, and its coach Scott Seltz, for its dedicated hard work leading to its achieving the 2024 NY State Class C championship.
The board also authorized a contract with Granicus, a company whose website says it “connects people and government,” to identify short term rentals (STRs), collect local taxes on them, and oversee their compliance with regulations. STRs, like Airbnb, “can have positive impacts” like “increasing tourism” and “providing an additional revenue stream for residents,” as well as “negative impacts” like “decreasing the availability of long term rentals [and] affordable housing,” the authorization said. In May, the supervisors asked the state to allow them to impose occupancy taxes of up to 4%, while a Granicus executive presented how Granicus could help enforce their regulations (Article May 16).
On another matter, the county accepted a grant of $5.2 million, to be paid over three years, from the NY State Office of Indigent Legal Services, and it plans to use some of it to help relocate the Public Defender’s office to Hudson’s 11 Warren Street. Other uses can include “insuring adequate legal representation from the Public Defender’s Office” and “funding the Conflict Defender’s Office.” The county bought 11 Warren Street last year, and local residents have expressed concern about its plans for it. One problem is that the county also plans to move the District Attorney’s (DA) office there, and some people objected to the DA and the Public Defender located in close proximity. They worried it would be harder for the Public Defender to establish their clients’ trust.
The supervisors authorized Fire Coordinator George Keeler to let Questar III BOCES conduct firefighting classes in the county Emergency Services and Response Training Facility in Ghent for free. Normally only county agencies can use the facility without paying a fee. But, Mr. Keeler said later, Questar is “training our volunteers. High School kids who are going to belong to our fire department.”
The board also approved CGCC’s operating budget for 2024-25.
The board authorized the Department of Human Services (DHS) to help pay the student loans of five specific DHS employees. The money comes from the state, and the employees are to receive it over a three-year period, during which time they must stay employed. The total amounts the five individuals receive is to range from $10,000 to $26,250.
At the Health and Human Services Committee meeting July 16, Supervisor Ron Knott (Stuyvesant) opposed this arrangement: “I don’t support taxpayers paying anybody’s loan. If you take out a loan, you’re responsible for it.”
Supervisor Robert Lagonia (Austerlitz) told of a business helping an employee pay a student loan with no taxpayer money.
But Daniel Almasi, county Director of Community Services, pointed out that the DHS arrangement “is intended to incentivize people to stay. It’s unfortunate that only five people will benefit.”
“We need to use every tool in the box to help keep them in their jobs,” said Supervisor Brenda Adams (Canaan). “Housing is so expensive.”
Student loan debt reduces the amount of money a household can comfortably spend on housing, the Columbia Economic Development Corporation’s (CEDC’s) Housing Development Coordinator Chris Brown pointed out during his presentation at the July 14 meeting on the county’s housing situation. The guideline that a household can afford to spend up to 30% of its gross monthly income on housing was made before student debt was recognized as a factor.
Meanwhile, Mr. Brown continued, in the five years from 2018 to 2023 the median home sale price in Columbia County rose 88% from $239,000 to $450,000. In the same period, the number of homes available for sale dropped 57% from 648 to 276. As for the renting households for which pertinent data is available, 31% are paying at least 50% of their gross income on rent. An additional 20% are paying 30 to 50% of their income on rent. And although the county’s median income has gone up “slightly” its renters’ median income has gone down.
In response the county has established a Housing Task Force, the CEDC has sponsored a community land trust which can be used for new housing, and applications are being made for grants to survey and improve housing conditions.
Also at the meeting:
•Board Chairman Matt Murell appointed Helen Kozel to the Columbia County Industrial Development Association and Supervisor Ryan Skoda (Taghkanic) as the board’s representative to the CEDC Board. Mr. Skoda replaces Richard Scalera (Hudson, 5th Ward)
•Supervisor Knott read Chairman Murell’s recognition of August 31 as National Overdose Awareness Day, and Supervisor Adams read his proclamation of September as National Recovery Month in Columbia County.
The board authorized:
•Accepting funds for the Health Department from a NY State settlement with Juul Labs, to be used to discourage vaping
•Purchasing a Ricoh large format printer/scanner/copier, for up to $11,137.37, for the County Clerk’s office
•Consultant agreements regarding the replacement of a culvert in Gallatin and the bridge carrying Rossman Road over Kinderhook Creek in Stockport
•Providing Astor Services for Children & Families with office space in the DHS Building (325 Columbia Street, Hudson) twice a week. Astor tries to keep children with mental health issues in their homes through aggressive “intervention” services
•An agreement with the Manhattan-based Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice for establishing and coordinating a Wellness Hub.
In all, the board passed 30 resolutions.
