Conesville Board Approves $334K Bond For New Plow Truck

The Conesville Town Board approved a bond resolution at the Nov. 11 meeting to pay for a new plow truck. Photo by Chris English.

By Chris English

CONESVILLE — The Town of Conesville now has the financing in place for its new plow truck.

Town Board members at their Tuesday, Nov. 11 meeting approved a bond resolution for an amount not to exceed $334,025 to pay for the town's new 2025 Western Star Model 49X plow truck and equipment. The bond is to be paid back within six years at annual interest rates of 3.99 percent, Town Supervisor Bill Federice said at the meeting.

In other actions from the Nov 11 meeting, Town Historian Kim Young reported that plans for the celebration of the nation's 250th Birthday on Sept. 19, 2026 are coming along nicely. She said contact has been made with a vintage baseball team and local musicians are scheduled to perform.

Among the many highlights that day will be a 6 p.m. parade and fireworks later that night. The Town Historical Society is the main organizer of the celebration.

"Lots of people are interested in helping," Young said.

"It's good you are planning all this so far in advance, I'm excited," Federice told Young.

Federice's county report — he is also Chairman of the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors _ was rather gloomy as he touched on the board's work on the 2026 county budget that will likely include a rather steep property tax increase. The BOE is currently looking at tax hikes ranging from about 12 to 16 percent, though the actual increase could end up being something different.

The county government is trying to deal with rising costs in just about every area.

"It's really tough, it's brutal," Federice said. "Absolutely gruesome. Sales tax revenue is down. I don't know what we're going to do."

He said gas prices being down right now was one of the factors in the sales tax revenue lagging behind projections, though Federice mentioned that Schoharie is one of only four counties in the state where sales tax revenue is down.

The Conesville Board had adopted the town's 2026 budget during a Nov. 5 public hearing. The $1.3 million budget includes a 2 percent increase in the Town property tax Levy and a 2.3 percent increase in the Fire District property tax Levy. The budget appropriates $99,422 from the Town fund balance, or surplus, to balance revenue and expenses.