Village to reopen Howe Street sidewalk project

WARWICK-In a budget year that resulted in a 12 percent increase in taxes, the Village Board decided to knock off some of the bigger projects it had hoped to accomplish. One of them was new sidewalks on Howe Street. Now, the village is reopening this year’s budget to make the sidewalks on Howe Street a reality. “During budget time, you include many projects that you would like to do,” said Mayor Michael Newhard. “When we saw how much the budget was increasing, we went in and took out some of the bigger projects. Now, we feel we should do this one.” But the village will not be footing the entire bill. The sidewalk replacement program in the village, which has included Division and Factory Streets so far, has gone hand-in-hand with the county’s Community Development Block Grant Program. Also getting funding from the county program are sidewalks on John Street, which are scheduled for replacement next spring or summer. The Howe St. project would begin immediately. Before taking the project out of the current budget, the village was going to receive about $49,000 toward the $135,000 project. Still, the board cut the project from the budget. But when the village learned it might not get that funding back from the county if the project was postponed, Newhard said they decided to make the adjustment. The village went to bid on this project so that they would have the exact amount for the project. Newhard also wrote a letter to the county asking for an increase in the grant funding. He hasn’t heard back from the county yet. The budget will not increase by adding this project, Newhard added. Instead, the board will go through the Department of Public Works budget line-by-line, shifting funding from other projects to this one. No other areas of the budget will be affected, he said. The public hearing begins at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25. Discussion on the Red Swan Inn project will also be discussed.