NORTH WEBSTER – North Webster Town Council held a special meeting Friday evening to wrap up some loose ends for the end of the year.
The town board reviewed and discussed the end of 2024 transfers, encumbrances and the town’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act fund.
“We had some leftover ARPA funds we need to use by the end of the year, or at least committed to using,” said Leigh Anne Jessop, clerktreasurer.
She didn’t specify the amount but mentioned a water pump the town is paying for.
The water pump is about $40,000 or so, said Council President Dan Thystrup.
Jessop said, “We have some remaining (money) from the wastewater infrastructure fund so I thought we could pay the majority of that off. We have $21,484 of ARPA for that,” said Jessop.
She added the town has remaining ARPA money for premium pay so clerk and police employees can be paid hourly.
The salary benefits and compensation plan is the same as last year, Jessop said, with a 3% cost of living increase for police and clerk employees. The ordinance was approved and signed.
“Insurance (medical) went up 2% so it covers that a little bit so their cost of living is really only 1%,” Jessop said.
The deductible went up a little bit, too, she said, from $3,000 to $3,250, “so we cover 90% of their HSA so that also went up.”
HSA is the health spending account and is a type of savings account that allows employees to set aside money taxfree to pay for qualified medical expenses.
“Honestly, I didn’t think insurance went up too terribly bad,” she said.
The council also signed an ordinance for the pay schedule, which is biweekly with 26 pay periods, with each employee’s paycheck broken down by amount.
The council briefly discussed the town’s new sidewalk project and bike trail, a twophase project. The first phase is in town limits. Thystrup said he will send out some information about the project soon to residents and businesses.
Jessop said a sidewalk ordinance is needed since the town doesn’t have one yet. The ordinance would state who is responsible for which sidewalks, either residents, businesses or the town.
“People ask and I don’t know what to say,” said Jessop. “Some of the sidewalks you can see are the town’s responsibility.”
She said Syracuse has a person who handles which sidewalks are whose responsibility for maintaining.
“Syracuse has a wellwritten plan,” Jessop said.
Thystrup said town attorney Jack Birch will be the person to explain legally how the sidewalk maintenance plan will work.
“He can look at the legal part of it,” said Thystrup. Board members agreed to consult Birch.
The next regular meeting is at 6 p.m. Jan. 21 at the North Webster Community Center.