Legislative Happenings
Kings Highway Infrastructure
by Gary Bischoff

As most readers are aware, the Ulster County Legislature voted overwhelmingly to approve $1 million of “Shovel Ready” money for the water/sewer project on Kings Highway. The county worked closely with town officials to make this happen. In particular, the project consultant for the town, Vernon Benjamin and Assistant County Attorney Bea Havranek did most of the heavy lifting. This is the last piece of funding which includes state and federal funds to make this project happen. As Mr. Benjamin pointed out, “sewer and water service are essential to allow established technology companies like Markertek, Fehr and Wiley Electronics to expand. The new services would also help attract new businesses to now vacant sites like the former Phillips plant which has been vacant and deteriorating since American Candle Company pulled out several years ago.” In addition, I am confident that there will be positive spin off from the solar consortium at Tech City as well as expansion of other companies along the corridor such as Precision Flow Technology.

The Saugerties Town Board has held several public hearings on the project and related issues, and has been very responsive to public comments. I applaud them for their forward-looking vision on this as well as their hard work.

When considering the impact of a project like this it is useful to look at the history of other water and sewer projects. I saw an article in Rural America by Faqir S. Bagi that detailed the result of an economic study of water / sewer projects in 30 states including 3 in New York.

The link to the article here.

To summarize the important points; “Water/sewer projects can save and/or create jobs, spur private sector investment, attract government funds, and enlarge the property tax base. The 87 water / sewer projects studied, on average, created 16 full-time-equivalent construction jobs. Direct beneficiaries (businesses) saved, on average, 212 permanent jobs, created 402 new permanent jobs, made private investments of $17.8 million, leveraged $2.1 million of public funds, and added $17.0 million to the local property tax base. Indirect beneficiaries saved, on average, 31 permanent jobs, created 172 new permanent jobs, attracted $3.34 million in private-sector investment, leveraged $905,000 of public funds, and added $3.0 million to the local property tax base. This enlarged property tax base, at a mere 1-percent tax rate, would yield $200,000 in annual property
tax to the community.”

While it is not certain what the economic benefits will be to Saugerties and Ulster County, it is clear that typically there are significant benefits. Again, congratulations to everyone involved, and I wish to publicly thank my colleagues in the Ulster County Legislature for supporting this important project.