SARATOGA SPRINGS — The second Public Hearing regarding Saratoga Springs’ proposed 2023 budget was held Nov. 1 at City Hall. As was the case during the first public hearing, which was staged in mid-October, no one from the community stepped forward to be heard. 

The city is proposing a $54.21 million spending plan in 2023, up slightly from $54.19 million plan in effect this year. 

“We see our budget not just as a policy document for our city but also a road map and a moral compass for what our community prioritizes,” said city Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi. “Our primary goal when making this budget was to ensure there were no cuts to our excellent and much needed city services, as well as no layoffs of our city employees.” 

During the City Council meeting Nov. 1, Commissioner Sanghvi provided a year-to-date collection report.  “Our 2022 collection for Sales Tax stands at $11.6 million right now, our Mortgage Tax at $2.1 million, and our Occupancy Tax at $572,000 – these are very good numbers for 2022,” she said. 

A “critical priority” in this year’s plan is budgeting for the city’s 3rd EMS/ Fire Station. The long-debated third station will serve residents of the city’s eastern plateau. Just over $7 million was bonded in 2022 for building the fire station and additional $1.4 million is slated to be bonded in 2023 for cost overages due to inflation and supply chain shortages. 

Sanghvi said considering 8% inflation and the “once-in-a-generation undertaking of a EMS/ fire station,” the plan proposes a Real Property Tax increase from $6.43 to $6.67 for Inside District and from $6.37 to $6.61 for the Outside District - an average increase of 3.72%. That increase translates to the following: if a house is assessed at $200,000, owners will pay $4 per month more on their property tax, $6 per month more if assessed at $300,000, $8 per month more if assessed at $400,000.

Independent department budget workshops have been held through October. A budget must be finalized by Nov. 30. 

“During the month of November, we will make final revisions and bring it to the City Council,” Sanghvi said. 

BALLSTON SPA — Budget season is underway at the Saratoga County complex in Ballston Spa, with supervisors in discussion regarding a proposed $378.3 million spending plan for 2023.

This year’s annual county budget – at $381.6 million – represented a near $11 million increase over 2021. Hitting the target proposal in 2023 would represent a $3.29 million decrease compared to 2022. 

Additionally, the tentative plan would, for the for the first time in six years, not use county fund balance reserves, and reduce the county’s Property Tax Rate by 5%, keeping it under the tax cap, says Saratoga County Board of Supervisors Chairman Theodore Kusnierz, Jr. 

“With uncertain financial times ahead, homeowners will receive much needed relief with a 5% property tax reduction through a balanced budget that doesn’t borrow from the county’s fund balance,” Kusnierz said. “Importantly, the budget upholds our fiscally responsible practices, continues to provide vital programs and services to our residents, supports public safety and public health initiatives, and makes smart investments in economic development.”

The proposed plan maintains funding for important programs and services, says County Administrator Steve Bulger. “In the wake of increasing inflation, soaring costs for goods and services, and an uncertain national economic environment, the County is tightening its financial belt while continuing to make key investments in services and programs to sustain the quality-of-life Saratoga County residents enjoy.” 

The plan would keep the levy within the tax cap and provide homeowners the lowest property tax rate in the State at $2.12 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to the county. 

The County sales tax revenue projection is $150 million, a decrease of $4 million compared with 2021 sales tax receipts and approximately $8 million less than expected 2022 revenues.

Notable funding allocations includes nearly $53 million for investments in personnel, technology, and equipment for the District Attorney’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, Probation Department, Public Defender’s Department, and Conflict Defender’s Office. 

Other notable allocations: 

• More than $600,000 to promote economic development and tourism. 

• Nearly $3 million for community development organizations that support initiatives including literacy   and career development, history and culture preservation, and agriculture and environmental conservation. 

• About $400,000 for the Farmland and Open Space Grant program to maintain the county’s extensive network of trails and open space. 

• Usage of $130,000 in Opioid Settlement funds that the county says will “create programs and provide services to connect families, veterans, and underserved populations with community-based treatment, rehabilitation, recovery, and support services related to opioid and substance use disorders.”

The Board of Supervisors will host a 2023 budget workshop at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 and has tentatively set a Dec. 14 date as a Special Board Meeting at the county complex in Ballston Spa for the 2023 Budget Adoption.

SARATOGA COUNTY — Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Polling Places will be open 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. There are 168, 047 active registered voters in Saratoga County.

All registered voters are eligible to participate in the General Election. Check your registration status at voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/ 

Up for vote are several seats - statewide, as well as countywide and locally in several municipalities. The sample ballot depicts Saratoga Springs specifically. To view sample ballots specific to various municipalities in Saratoga County, go here: www.saratogacountyny.gov/departments/board-of-elections/voting-information/#ballots. 

Flip the ballot over: A 2022 Statewide Ballot Proposal, titled Proposal Number One – “Clean Water, Clean Air, And Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act Of 2022.” The purpose of this proposal is to authorize the creation of state debt and the sale of state bonds in the amount of up to $4.2 billion for certain capital projects for the purpose of making environmental improvements that preserve, enhance, and restore New York’s natural resources and reduce the impact of climate change. If approved, the proposal would allow the State to borrow up to $4.2 billion to provide funding for capital projects for the restoration and flood risk reduction, open space land conservation and recreation, climate change mitigation, and water quality improvement and resilient infrastructure. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — It is story was born in Saratoga a long time in-the-making that will make its landing in living color in the Spa City this month.

IT is called “The Supernatural Strings of Vampwyre,” a 32-page comic from the mind of Zack Lynch, launching the first book of what he hopes will be a quarterly publication with his new enterprise Blue Shack Comics. 

“The first time I ever got to go to a comic shop was on Broadway (in Saratoga Springs). My mom took me and it was like a magic portal,” says Lynch, who subsequently grew up reading ‘Conan’ and ‘X-Men’ -  “the two mainstays I read as a kid without fail, and after that pretty much everything Marvel put out.”

By the 1990s, Lynch began working for comic book companies, first as an intern and later graduating to doing coloring and production design. “Comics have been a part of my life forever, since I was a kid, and it’s been in my career wheelhouse for the past 30 years now,” he says. 

Earlier this year, he assembled a creative team in anticipation of launching a local comic book company and estimates approximately 50 brainstorming meetings have been held at Desperate Annie’s on Caroline Street – “that has been quite a creation hub for us” - since May. 

“I hired a team of professionals and knowing how every position works really helps. It takes about six people to put together a comic. You’ve got your basic creator – who comes up with the idea; your writer; you have to do sketches to get an idea of what the book is going to look like, then it goes to a penciller, an inker, a colorist and a letterer,” Lynch explains.  “Then all of that comes back to me for design layout and printing.”

The end result is Blue Shack Comics’ first issue: The Supernatural Strings of Vampwyre – a kid-friendly story about an AI rock star who deals with the experiences that all humans experience, Lynch says, from growing up, to figuring out who and what we are. 

Book 1 is on its way back from the printers. Book 2 begins production next month and is slated for release in the spring. The hope is to release a new book on a quarterly basis. Lynch – who wears the title of creator, writer and editor of the book, also launched a Kickstarter campaign. 

“I am the financier, and it is costly, but an interesting part is that it’s also being financed by old classic comics which are now exceptionally valuable. I have quite a large comic collection, and for this book I’m selling comics to make a comic,” Lynch says. 

“The Supernatural Strings of Vampwyre” is slated to make its premiere Nov. 12-13, during Comic Con at the Saratoga Springs City Center. It will also be available at the website: vampwyre.com, where more information about the publication may be found. 

“The Supernatural Strings of Vampwyre.” Creator & Writer - Zack Lynch; Artistic Concept Designer - Kim Vincent Harris; Pencils - Jason Baroody; Inks - Mark McKenna; Colors - Ross Campbell; Letters - Dezi Sienty; Graphic Design - Tyrus Christiana. 32 pages, color, $6. Go to: vampwyre.com. 

WILTON — One dozen identical bottles of Italian dressing stand atop the shelves. Each bears a label-faced portrait of green rolling hills and olive and cypress trees on a blue-sky day. It is a lush panorama of a province in some other sunny place, standing in contrast to the landscape of vanilla shelves that run down the aisles inside the room. 

“Everything you see on the shelves here will be gone within the month - easily,” says Paula Schmid, president of the board of directors at the Wilton Food Pantry. 

“These shelves were almost bare, but we had a 1,000-pound food bank delivery yesterday morning after we had a 1,500-pound Hoffman’s Car Wash food drive,” she says, framed by rows of hot sauce and mayonnaise, cold brew coffee and chicken soup, cans filled with chili, pear halves, diced tomatoes, and boxes of pancake mix, corn flakes, and mac ’n’ cheese.

Six volunteers spent a good part of the past two days sorting through the incoming goods, checking expiration dates and ensuring the packaging is intact. “Still, there are some gaps on our shelves,” Schmid says. “We’re getting 1,000 pounds of food from the Food Bank almost every week and going through it in a week.”

On this day, Congressman Paul Tonko is touring the Wilton Food Pantry. He is accompanied by Saratoga County Administrator Steve Bulger, and Wilton Food Pantry Director of Operations Peter Maynard. 

In June, the pantry was awarded $50,000 from Saratoga County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation, helping the pantry to cover most of its operating costs for this year, and allowing the organization to continue to provide critical service to food insecure residents of Northern Saratoga County.

In all, Saratoga County received approximately $44.65 million in ARPA monies since the Federal Government passed the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package in March 2021. Locally, 20th District Congressman Paul Tonko voted in favor of the economic stimulus package.

Tonko toured the Ballard Road food pantry as part of a series of visits by the congressman this month to sites across the Capital Region to highlight how the ARPA funds he helped deliver are working for families and local communities.

The Wilton Food Pantry began organizing volunteers to provide an emergency food supply to low-income residents a decade ago. It serves residents beyond its geographical town borders and extends to Northern Saratoga County. 

Patron data shows a 35% increase in community need this year over last. 

2021: 281 families, 623 individuals, 1,851 visits and 32,904 meals provided.

2022: 367 families, 868 individuals, 2,448 visits and 44,566 meals provided.

Goods are mainly secured from three sources.  Items are purchased from the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Latham, use-by-that-day items are picked up at Hannaford (for which the market receives a tax credit), and community fund drives. 

“The Northeastern Regional Food Bank is our primary source; we pay for it, but we pay only 16-cents a pound. So for donations, we would actually prefer to have money because we can buy the things we need on our shelves, “Schmid said. “The way the food bank values things is that each pound of food is worth $1.79 that we hand out. What we’re actually paying for that is 16 cents, so it’s like a ten-times factor.”

The food pantry works with approximately 50 volunteers who pick up goods at the market, interact with the public, or work on backroom inventory. 

“The hunger and hurt that’s out there for a lot of families is not easily seen, so I think it’s good for the region to have that. It’s important,” Tonko said.

The annual budget is $75,000 which covers rental of the space and two part-time paid employees. Due to the pandemic, the organization was unable to host its annual fundraising event for two consecutive years. Those events usually raise about $25,000 each year. During 2020 and 2021 an outpouring of donations from the community helped the food pantry stay afloat, the $50,000 COVID non-profit grant is assisting the organization this year. 

“It’s important to have this set up and to be able to serve people. With one in five kids in the congressional district living in food insecurity, there’s a need out there, so you and your volunteers are making a major effort,” said Tonko, adding he was thankful the county Board of Supervisors directed some of federal rescue plan money it received to the food pantry. 

“With the post-COVID response, rebuilding the economy is important - and this is part of it. This is stabilizing households and families,” Tonko said. “There is an all-out effort to conquer hunger. And it’s a great challenge. Thank goodness there are operations like this. By the grace of God anyone can be in this situation, so it serves all of us.” 

For more information about resident registration and more about the Wilton Food Pantry, go to: wiltonfoodpantry.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga County Board of Elections and the city of Saratoga Springs announced the Recreation Center at 15 Vanderbilt Ave. will serve as an early voting site for the 2022 General Election. 

The Saratoga County Board of Elections’ other early voting sites include Wilton Gavin Park on Lewis Road; Greenfield Firehouse #1 in Greenfield Center; the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library on Moe Road in Clifton Park; and the Board of Elections office on West High Street in Ballston Spa. 

All voters may vote at any poll site. 

On the ballot for voters in the Saratoga region: Governor and Lt. Gov; Comptroller; Attorney General; U.S. Senator; State Supreme Court Justice; 20th Congressional District; 44th State Sen. District; 113th Assembly District; District Attorney; Treasurer; Family Court Judge. 

Specific to the city of Saratoga Springs: An election to fill the remainder of the term for DPW Commissioner. That term goes through the calendar year 2023. 

There are just over 168,000 active registered voters in Saratoga County, according to the New York State Board of Elections. That party affiliation includes: just under 50,000 registered Democrats, just over 61,000 Republicans, and nearly 45,000 “blank” voters. 

Voters who cast a ballot during the early voting period will not be allowed to vote on Election Day, Nov.  8. Voters who have been issued an absentee ballot are not permitted to vote on the voting machines, but may be issued an affidavit ballot. 

Hours for voting:

Saturday, Oct. 29: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Sunday, Oct. 30: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Monday, Oct. 31: 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. 

Tuesday, Nov. 1: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Wednesday, Nov. 2: 12 – 8 p.m. 

Thursday, Nov. 3: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Friday, Nov. 4: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Saturday, Nov. 5: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Sunday, Nov. 6: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

For more information, call the Saratoga County Board of Elections at 518-885-2249, or Stacy Connors, Deputy Commissioner of Accounts, City of Saratoga Springs at 518-587-3550 x2543.