A Message from
Town Supervisor Philip H. Herrington

ROOM FOR GROWTH

There's a lot of truth to the old saying about the best reason for buying real estate - "they're not making any more of it". It's also true, as the realtors put it , that the three most important things to consider when buying real estate are "location, location and location".

All of this brings me to my topic for this edition. The Town Board recently entered into a contract to purchase the house and property located at 1046 Hoosick Road. The parcel is immediately adjacent to the new Town Hall property to the east. It consists of a fairly large building situated on well over three (3) acres of land.

Anyone familiar with the way I operate knows that I don't like to spend taxpayer funds unless absolutely necessary. Even though we are paying market value for the property, we just couldn't pass it up. With the acquisition of this parcel, we will substantially enlarge our contiguous Town Office complex located on Town Office Road and Hoosick Road, which now consists of the parcel on which the old Town Hall building and the Highway Garage are located and the parcel on which we recently constructed the new Town Hall. Even though we have a lot more space than we used to, we never seem to have enough. While, with the construction of the new Town Hall, we greatly increased our available parking, we sometimes come up short when we have controversial public hearings. Also, ours is one of the busiest Town Courts in the County, and its seems like the lot is full to overflowing every court night. Perhaps most importantly, not many people know that the Town does not own the large parcel of land located directly across the road from the Highway Garage although we use it, due to the generosity of the owner, for various things, including temporary storage of the leaves and brush we collect from your properties throughout the year. Some day that property will change hands and it is unlikely the new owner will be similarly disposed to our using it, especially rent-free. When that happens, we will really need all the additional land we are now buying. And we couldn't wait until we absolutely needed the land to buy it. We had to act, or we would have lost it to another buyer.

The Town Board has taken a hard look at this and we can afford it. Fortunately, we have a healthy fund balance, which we have invested wisely, causing it to grow. We will not raise your taxes to finance this purchase. We believe that acquiring this new parcel will permit us to improve and enhance our current operations, as well as provide the necessary space to accommodate future growth. This is an expenditure which is also an investment. Unlike many of the things we have to spend your money on, this land will always have value. At this point, we do not have firm plans for immediate use of the parcel or the existing building, but we are considering various options. We will certainly keep you posted.

© 2008 Town of Brunswick
336 Town Office Road, Troy, New York 12180
Telephone: 518/279-3461 FAX : 518/279-4352
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