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Municipal officials discuss development projects involving former stores.
KINGSTON — Council passed the 2010 budget at a special meeting on Monday night.
The budget includes a general fund of $7,800,933 and features a $1,000,061 surplus carried over from 2009. The property tax rate will remain 1.254 mills. A mill is $1 tax on every $1,000 in assessed property value.
All other taxes and fees will go unchanged as well.
Also at the special meeting, council voted to support the municipality’s 2010 gaming grant application. If the entire $1.8 million grant is approved, it will go toward funding the repaving of First and Second avenues; Davis, Craine and East Hoyt streets; and North and South Dawes avenues.
The funding would also be used to begin a municipal riverfront reconstruction project. The municipality hopes to demolish and repave an area on Market Street next to the levee that now hosts an abandoned department store. Facilities that would be used for a mix of office, retail and residential uses would then be constructed.
The ordinance to pass the budget and the resolution to support the grant application were passed unanimously.
Before the special meeting, the council held its final 2009 work session.
George Albert, of G & Albert Consultants, presented to council his interest in acquiring the former Price Chopper building at the Third Ave. Plaza.
The property is an essential piece of an overall effort being made by Kingston to revitalize Third Avenue. A recent project to turn the property into a medical campus fell through after experiencing funding and organizational problems.
Albert said he hopes to convert the former supermarket into a combination of retail and commercial property with some space set aside for office usage.
Although unable to disclose the specific business, he told council that one developer was committed to operating at the location. The business would specialize in family entertainment and would be the only one of its kind between here and Philadelphia, he said.
Also at the work session, Municipal Administrator Paul Keating asked council to consider raising the spending limits that would require sealed bids from $5,000 to $20,000.
Keating said such a move would allow for savings in time and money in advertising and preparation for bids on projects that would cost more than $5,000.
Kingston currently requires department heads, such as police or fire chiefs, to obtain at least three independent bids for such projects. Keating then accepts the lowest responsible bid.
The change proposed by Keating would include a requirement to inform council of those transactions with in 30 days.
The council will likely address the issue at the January regular meeting.