Route 30 Faces Speed Change

SCHOHARIE - On Tuesday evening, the Schoharie Village Board discussed the recent speed change on Route 30, as well as their upcoming budget and a move to online payments.

Thanks to Mayor Colleen Henry’s latest push with the Department of Transportation, the south end of the Village will now see slower and safer traffic.

Between Bridge Street and Quilt Lane, the speed limit has been changed from 40 to 30, something that residents living there have been asking for for a long time.

Mayor Henry has noted that enforcement is already in effect, with police having caught speeders breaking the limit by more than 20 MPH just last week.

Luckily, she has also explained that if the police recognize someone as a Village resident, there will be some leeway given with a few warnings before more serious action is taken in order to give time to adjust to the change.

Yet this victory is not the end of Mayor Henry’s push. While DOT approved the south end, they denied similar alterations to the north by Fox Creek and Lily Parks, something that she is incensed to keep trying at.

“We only have the south end for now, but soon we might be looking at the other side,” she said.

In other news, the Board briefly discussed the latest on their budget development cycle.

Mayor Henry stated that the Village is continuing to review expenses and revenues, and it will be an ongoing process until November.

However, every Board member was confident that the review should be done by their next Board meeting, and they plan to hold a public hearing on November 10th.

Finally, on the recommendation of both member Sal Medak and Mayor Henry, the Village will be switching to an online automatic payment method for their bills from National Grid and Midtel.

They have found redundancies in paper copies, as an invoice might turn into a late payment and a duplicate will be sent, so this change is primarily for their ease in the office and less confusion around what must be paid.

However, it is important to note that this applies to their municipal bills, not the residents that are filing their bills with the Village.

“We’re still discussing if we should have our constituents pay online or not,” Mayor Henry clarified while she closed the meeting. “Sometimes there’s a fee attached to that, and as a municipality, we don’t want to put that on our taxpayers.”