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BRONXVILLE, N.Y. -- The Village of Bronxville adopted a $2.4 million capital improvement budget Monday night that will purchase new police cars, new equipment and vehicles for the Department of Public Works and pay for much needed repairs to the Bronxville Library among other projects.
Mayor Mary Marvin said all of the trustees were involved in the decision making process on how the village would spend the money.
Trustee Donald Gray wanted residents to know that village department heads and officials worked hard on the spending plan.
"We spent many hours examining everything," Gray said. "We believe we came up with the best spending plan after much consideration."
Last year the village only spent $285,751 on capital improvements with the DPW, the police and the justice court each getting small spending allowances. Other departments such as the building department and the library received no capital allowance.
This year six of the nine village departments will get some money toward capital projects.
The lion's share of the $2.4 million spending plan, $1.3 million, will go to the Department of Public Works. Nearly $1 million of that budget will be spread over a two year period from 2011 through 2013 and allocated for street and curb restoration. DPW Superintendent Rocco Circosta said that installing new curbs along Kraft Avenue and Pondfield Road will be a priority. Circosta also requested funds for the repairs to sewer and storm systems damaged during Hurricane Irene.
Although Circosta would have liked to purchase two new dump trucks, there will be only enough money in this year's spending plan to purchase one truck. The DPW will get to replace its current shop truck with a four-wheel-drive pickup truck equipped with a plow for snow removal.
The Bronxville Police Department will purchase four new vehicles replacing cars that are 10 and 11 years old and almost beyond repair. The department will spend close to $100,000 of the nearly $300,000 budget on computer equipment that will allow officers to participate in the Traffic and Criminal Software program. The program, called TraCS, allows police to electronically issue tickets and write accident reports.
TraCS enables officers to check the status of motor vehicles prior to approaching the driver. Should the officer issue a moving violation ticket, the data would be uploaded electronically to the police department server and the Bronxville Justice Court computer. The department will also add a second license plate reader which will further aid in criminal investigations leading to arrests, stolen vehicle recovery, and collection of outstanding fines.
The Bronxville Library will receive a $45,000 capital budget allowance, all of which will be put toward repairs and maintenance. The library will spend $5000 on repairs to the roof, $15,000 on interior paining, and $15,000 on floor replacement. The remaining $10,000 will go towards restoring furniture at the library.
The $57,000 portion of the spending plan allocated to Village Hall will all be spent on upgrading the computer system.
At the building department, $75,000 will be spent on archiving and storing records. A large chunk, $500,000 of the $628,000 budget, will go towards flood mitigation. Village Administrator Harold Porr said that the money will be spent on a camera that will snake through all of the storm lines and equipment clean out the storm lines all in an effort to keep water flowing through to the Bronx River.
The village parking department will have a budget of $67,500 that will be spent on replacing or refurbishing parking meters, some of which were damaged during Hurricane Irene. The department will also use funds to upgrade ticket software.
The Village Board held a public hearing to review the plan before it was adopted at Monday night's meeting. After there were no objections by residents or trustees, the plan was unanimously approved.
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