Town of Richmondville to Pay Emergency Squad 20K in 2026

RICHMONDVILLE _ The Town of Richmondville will contribute $20,000 to the Richmondville Volunteer Emergency Squad as part of the 2026 contract between the two parties approved by the town board at its Thursday, Dec. 11 meeting.

The document calls for the town to make the payment on or before April 1. Among many other provisions, the four-page contract requires the emergency squad to "furnish general ambulance service within the Town of Richmondville by causing its ambulance or ambulances to promptly respond and attend any and all ambulance calls to which the ambulance is properly called and dispatched from the Town of Richmondville, including the Village of Richmondville."

The emergency squad shall be permitted to accept donations and to conduct fundraising affairs, and shall submit to the town a report of its ambulance calls and its end-of-year financial report. In addition, the ES agrees that it shall file annually with the town an updated list of all its medics, drivers and members of the Board of Directors, and officers and other volunteers.

The Richmondville Town Board at the Dec. 11 meeting also approved the 2026 contract with the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley in Howe's Cave. It calls for the town to pay the shelter $800 next year.

Provisions in the contract include those that require the shelter to "provide and maintain an impoundment facility and make the same available for all dogs seized by the town dog control officer."

Also, the shelter "shall provide an area 24 hours a day/7 days a week where the town DCO can bring the dog immediately upon seizure."

However, "any dog with an obvious injury shall not be left at the shelter when staff is unavailable" but instead "be transported to an emergency veterinarian." In addition "all bite cases and/or possible rabies cases shall  not be brought to the shelter but must be taken to and held by a veterinarian's office."

Several resolutions were approved at the meeting. One requires that "anyone paying their real property taxes in cash must pay the exact amount of the tax bill to the one-hundredth of a dollar and the Town Receiver of Taxes shall not accept a different amount."

Town Clerk-Tax Collector Maggie Smith said one reason for adoption of the resolution was the federal government's recent decision to stop minting pennies and the subsequent shortage of those coins.

The board approved a Pro-Housing Community Pledge resolution which endeavors to take the following steps:

"Streamlining permitting for multifamily housing, affordable housing, accessible housing, accessory dwelling units and supportive housing; Adopting policies that affirmatively further fair housing; Incorporating regional housing needs into planning decisions; Increasing development capacity for residential uses; Enacting policies that encourage a broad range of housing development, including multifamily housing, affordable housing, accessible housing, accessory dwelling units and supportive housing."

The resolution cites the housing crisis that is having "negative effects at regional and local levels. We believe that every community must do their part to contribute to housing growth and benefit from the positive impacts a healthy housing market brings to communities."

Town Supervisor Jeffrey Haslun said that adopting the resolution might aid Richmondville in obtaining grants or other funding for housing.

A third resolution approved by the town board adopts the Schoharie County 2024 Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan Update.