County Approves 3587M Broadband Project Bond

SCHOHARIE COUNTY — A unanimous vote to move forward on a $35.87 million bond to finance a broadband project came with a healthy dose of skepticism from some Schoharie County Supervisors.

At its Friday, March 21 meeting, the county Board of Supervisors approved a resolution authorizing the "issuance of not exceeding $35,870,000 in bonds" to fund a project aimed at giving every county resident the ability to connect with the Internet.

The plan is to use proceeds from the bond to essentially front money for the project, and then pay back the borrowing from a $30 million grant the county is supposed to be getting from the state ConnectAll Program. The grant is a reimbursable one in which the county puts up money for the project and is then reimbursed from the grant at various milestones along the way.

Before the vote to approve the bond resolution, BOS Chairman Bill Federice of Conesville and Supervisor Stephen Weinhofer of Broome said they would be voting against it though they ended up casting a yes vote.

"I would vote for $30 million, and I ask that we consider circling back to that. I won't support this at that number ($35.87 million)," Federice said before the vote.

Weinhofer voiced similar concerns while Supervisor Donald Airey of Blenheim also expressed skepticism though he never said he would vote against the measure.

"I will support this but not because I love it," Airey said, adding that he didn't favor one of the alternatives, to use part of the county's substantial fund balance (surplus) as front money for the broadband project.

"I don't like the debt load, but I want to protect our general fund and reserve fund (fund balance)," said Airey.

A roll call vote on the bond resolution ended up being unanimous after county Treasurer Mary Ann Wollaber-Bryan and Andrew Watkins of Fiscal Advisors addressed the board. Those two and others will be putting together details of the bond issuance now that the resolution has been approved.

Wollaber-Bryan has described the $35.87 million figure as a safeguard reflecting the project's $33.3 million estimated cost and $1.6 million in contingencies.

"There is no intention to actually borrow the full $35 million," she said at the March 21 BOS meeting. "An initial $15 million is what we would go with. We could decide to borrow less or borrow more. We don't want to cut ourselves short so that we have invoices coming in and we have no way to pay them."

The bond resolution states the broadband project will be "initially funded with the remaining ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds in the amount of $204,635.14."

Also approved by the BOS at the March 21 meeting was a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) resolution stating that the broadband project will have no significant impact on the environment.

In other actions, the board approved eight appointments to the Schoharie County Youth Board. Appointed were Janine Pustolka of Cobleskill (term expires Dec. 31, 2026); Matthew Wilms of Seward (Dec. 31, 2028); Da-Lai Wu of Schoharie (Dec. 31, 2028); Meghan Keaney of Sharon Springs (Dec. 31, 2028); Dan Cornwell of Sharon Springs (Dec. 31, 2027); Jeffrey Sperbeck of Seward (Dec. 31, 2027); Melissa Bevins of Middleburgh (Dec. 31, 2027) and Marissa Karker of Schoharie (Dec. 31, 2027).

The board also approved the appointment of Jessica Beretz to a farmer seat on the Schoharie County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board, term to expire Oct. 1, 2027.