Prior to the town Board meeting on Tuesday the Finance Committee met to discuss required year end transfers. The transfers occurred under the Parks & Recreation Department and the Buildings Departments. The majority cause of the transfers were under Personnel costs. During last years budget the contract settlements called for retroactive raises which were not included in last years projections. However the department leadership did an outstanding job and overall came in under budget to cover the shortfalls. My thanks to Eric Bacon and Tom Hart who did and continue to do an outstanding job in running there respective departments.
The only item of note I would like to address was item 2 from the agenda. The town is working with Bob Antonacci and his Babe Ruth group to bring Fall Baseball to the Town of Camillus Optimist Field located on Milton Ave from August 1 thru October 15th. Currently this field is in very unsafe and unplayable conditions and sees very little usage year round let alone in the fall. With the groups help and significant donations, they will spend $15,000 to $20,000 to upgrade the field and bring another great field back to life. Additionally, many traveling teams from outside the town and county will be traveling here to utilize this field; exposing them to our great town and also providing them and their families’ places to eat, sleep and shop. This will result in dollars being spent here and untold marketing assistance when they return home. This is exactly the type of creative partnerships I was hoping to explore to further enhance our economic development opportunities.