The Bi-Partisan Town Board of Rochester voted unanimously to reject entering into a Shared Highway Service Agreement with Ulster County. I've spent countless hours studying how to implement shared highway services and am the only supervisor to attend every meeting concerning the plan. I also arranged for David Bolles, DPW Head of Administration, to meet with the Town Board in order for them to make an informed decision. The County of Ulster offered the Town of Rochester $6700 per centerline mile for taking over winter and light summer maintenance of 20 miles of County Roads. This translates into a maximum payment of $134,000 from Ulster County to the Town of Rochester for said "shared services" (I think this is a misnomer and it really should be called contracted services). The Town of Rochester currently plows 120.2 miles with 9 trucks, each manned by one person, for an average of 13.49 mi. per route. This is the highest average per route in the county.

We are also the second largest town in the county, as far as town road mileage is concerned, behind Wawarsing. The town average in Ulster County is between 8.5 and 9 miles per route with a single-manned truck. The Town of Saugerties by contrast does 114 miles with 21 single-manned trips for an average of 5.6 mi. per trip (this is why shared services might work for them as they have a lot of miles to spare in order to reach the county average). The next highest municipality does a little over 10 miles per single-manned trip. Ulster County plows 424 miles of road at an average of 9.5 miles per trip with 2 men per truck (driver and wingman) for a net average of 4.75 mi. per man plow trip.

Adding extra miles to each route in Rochester was not an option as we are already stretched to maximum efficiency. Adding miles to each route would result in negatively impacting the quality of service provided to maintain safe roads in our town. A minimum of two employees would be required in order to take on the extra mileage. Hiring part-time help would be practically impossible given the need for 24/7 availability, proper licensing and training, and successful drug testing availability. A fulltime employee costs about $70,000 a year with wages and benefits. Therefore a minimal estimate for additional labor would be $140,000 per year. We are already $6,000 in red ink before consideration of other associated costs.

Next, consider that additional liability insurance for taking on the County roads would be $3,000. Even if the County gave two trucks to use for free, we would still have to figure in fuel, maintenance, and repairs for those vehicles. Then we have to figure in the cost of additional salt and sand. Next we would have to expand the salt shed to accommodate the extra salt needed. Buying extra salt during the season is not a viable option as it might not be available during a harsh winter season and any available salt would be very expensive. Extra overtime would also have to be figured in as the additional traffic county roads carry as compared to town roads necessitates more road clearing trips than town roads.

It is quite obvious that the extra costs to be borne by the Town of Rochester far exceed the payment being offered by the County. Participation in the Shared Highway Services Agreement would result in an increase in our town taxes in order to make up the shortfall of what the county is paying us, versus costs of participation. At the same time there is no guarantee that county taxes would go down accordingly to compensate the increase in town taxes due to participation in the agreement. I've worked very hard to lower taxes in Rochester the last 2 years that I have developed and presented the budget for approval as presented, and I don't intend on doing anything that will increase the tax burden placed on the citizens of my town. My Town Board made the decision to not participate in the shared highway agreement because it was the right thing for us to do.

I believe that the shared highway services plan that is being proposed can't work if a town has to hire additional help in order to implement it. However, towns at the lower end of the miles per trip end of the scale can possibly pick up extra county road mileage by adding it on to existing routes depending on the population density of the area. Urban areas normally are more difficult to plow and thus miles per trip decrease. Shared highway plans in place in other counties evolved over the course of several years and I expect this will be the case with Ulster County. Hopefully, someday, it will evolve into something that the vast majority of towns will be able to participate in with beneficial results for our taxpayers. Mike Hein had unrealistically envisioned full or close to full implementation of this plan as a way to soften the impending budget crunch he faces. I'm sure you all remember him talking about how 70 percent of his budget is mandated and that highway is one of the few areas where he has control. This was stated by him at the onset on January 4 and restated several times. A review of the video coverage from that date and his State of the County Address will confirm this. I believe a true lack of understanding of what is involved with winter maintenance contributed to his unrealistic expectations. It's not as simple as town trucks riding over county roads with their plows lifted as he has repeatedly complained about to the press. Meeting with supervisors and highway superintendents and finding out what the issues are before bringing in the press and creating unrealistic public expectations would have gone a long way towards moving the process along. However, I really do believe Mike Hein had the best of intentions championing his (not Gerald Benjamin's or Jonathan Drapkin's, as Pattern for Progress's study only revealed areas with sharing potential) Shared Highway Services Plan.

Unfortunately the plan being presented to the towns is not the panacea it was made out to be. Mike Hein also has stated repeatedly that our current system does not make sense. He is 100 percent correct. The Ulster County Highway Department is a bloated behemoth that has grown over the course of many years due to political patronage and the "Ulster County Friends and Family Employment Plan." If it were a private enterprise, it would have gone under a long time ago (barring federal bailout). Based on 2009 budget info the cost per centerline mile of Ulster County roads is about $36,000. Rochester on the other hand is the lowest in the county at about $11,000 per centerline mile. The Ulster County average amongst the towns is about $20,000 per centerline mile. The inefficiency of the County Highway Department is readily apparent. Cuts need to be made. Staffing levels must be reduced. The new NYS 25/55 Retirement Incentive should help. The use of wingmen should be eliminated where safely possible. Substations should be closed (it's ridiculous that we have a dozen while Sullivan has two). The County should share space at the towns when possible. Procurement of new vehicles and equipment are in serious need of review. This situation isn't Hein's fault but he shouldn't have waited until an impending budget crisis to solve the inefficiencies of the Highway Dept. He's had opportunities for a few years to bring solutions to the table as County Administrator as well as County Executive. The towns didn't create this situation either and it isn't their responsibility to clean up this mess.