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Village of Lansing Mayor Donald Hartill told Village Trustees Monday that the rate the Town charges for snow removal could double next year.  "(Town Supervisor) Scott Pinney would like the Town to not float us as they've done in the past," Hartill said.  "Costs have gone up significantly.  Diesel, salt's gone up 30% or more.  He would like us to pay $51,000 instead of $25,000.  I have no objections to that."

But others on the board were not sure they liked the idea.  "What happened to the notion that we shouldn't be paying it at all?" asked Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski.  "Talk about a collision of ideas -- how about doubling the rate?  How about nothing at all?"

In a way the Town of Lansing finds itself in a similar negotiation to the one they recently conducted with the SPCA.  In that case the SPCA more than doubled its charges, saying it was adjusting  from a system in which revenues were not even close to the cost of providing the services they offered.  The Town balked at paying so much more than it was accustomed to paying, and eventually chose a private dog control provider instead.

The problem with pricing snow removal comes from two separate contracts that are the same -- but different.  The Town contracts with the County to salt, sand, and remove snow from county-owned roads that lie within the Town borders.  The County uses a formula that starts with a 'base price' that is the average of the last two plowing seasons.  It then adjusts that base up or down based on estimated costs for the upcoming season.  The result is a fixed price that the County can include in its budget for the following year, and that the Town can count on in its own budget.

The Village has a similar contract that uses the same adjustment the County determines in its contract each year.  But there is one significant difference.  Nearly 20 years ago a fixed base price of $25,000 was set.  All subsequent contracts have adjusted up or down from that same base price.  So while the County contract more or less adjusts for actual costs as well as light or heavy winters, the fixed base price does not adjust for rises in fuel, labor, or materials.

"We put together a cost sheet for 2007 and 2008 and what the Village paid us," says Lansing Highway Department Clerk Joan Kobasa.  "It barely covered the salt cost."

Last year the Village paid $30,000 to the Town for snow removal.  But salt for the Village alone cost the Town $34,939.  With labor at $8,273, use of equipment at $7,654, and overhead at $3,805 the Town spent $54, 671 plowing Village roads.

In the twelve years from 1996 to 2008 the Village has paid a high of $63,250 in 2004 to a low of $15,000 in 1998.  The cost to the Village has averaged $28,540 over that time.

The question of whether Village residents are already paying for plowing is complicated by the fact that the Village owns about 15 miles of roads that are not owned by the Town and is independently responsible for their maintenance.

"This question has come up a number of times," explains Town Bookkeeper/Personnel Officer Sharon Bowman.  "When the Village decided to succeed from the Town back in the '70s New York State Town law said that Villages are responsible for their highways and road maintenance.  Even though they pay Town taxes those roads are theirs.  They are not Town roads."

All of this is complicated further by the fact that the two municipalities overlap -- sort of.  That means Village residents pay for some Town services, but not others.  "That doesn't matter, because that's not our agreement," said Village Clerk/Treasurer Jodi Dake.  "The Village people already pay the same taxes the Town people pay.  There used to be two different tax amounts, but now they are the same."

That is true, but Bowman says that is because services that only benefit Town residents outside of the Village, such as the Town Planning Department, are paid for by sales tax revenue.  She points out that the fixed base rate in the Town/Village contract hasn't been adjusted in nearly 20 years and thus has not kept up with price rises.  "I think the idea is to revise the base rate," she says.  "Because it has not been changed since 1990."

Road salt currently costs $36.50 per ton, $5.25 more per ton than last year.  That is 16.8%, higher than last year.  "It would be another $6,300 on top of this year's $34,939," Kobasa explains.  "It would be $41,000 just for salt."

Hartill said he would be happy to renegotiate with the Town, but first wanted to gather the facts so he would have ammunition for his argument.  He noted that the Village of Cayuga Heights has a similar agreement for snow removal with its township, and that the Village does own its own roads.  "I'm perfectly happy to renegotiate," Hartill said.   "We have to have the facts. They're not necessarily obligated.  We own the roads.  The Town doesn't own the roads.  It's a tricky call."

Village and Town officials agreed on one point: even at $51,000 it's a good deal for the Village, which has a tiny Public Works Department that wouldn't be capable of plowing Village roads.  That gives the Town an edge in the negotiations that the SPCA didn't have with a bid that was more than twice the dollar amount of the competing bid.  "It's still cheaper than if we do it ourself," Dake noted.  "We would need more manpower, more equipment."

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