Spring 2023 Town Update
Spring is finally here and so are many of our community events listed on the back side of this letter. More detailed information on each one can be found at www.redhookny.gov Events Calendar.
If you haven’t already signed up for notifications while you are there, please know that it’s an easy way to stay up to date on what’s going on with your Town. This feature provides residents with information on meetings, news alerts and more. With the Board and our dedicated partners and volunteers, we are currently working on our 68th capital project, an initiative to preserve more open space and create some housing that can support our workforce. We’ve been fortunate to fund these many dozens of projects without raising taxes since 2015; while removing many of the fees associated with use of public facilities.
During that time, we’ve overhauled and expanded our recreational facilities, and placed trails online throughout the community. In the coming months you will hear more about new additions to the network that will add several more miles in different areas of Town. We will also be finishing our ambitious Sawkill trail segments that connect Rec Park West with the woodlands, the stream and then finally the Empire State Trail system. A new path and crosswalk will connect both sides of our recreational parks on Linden Avenue to provide a safe and easy crossing for pedestrians and bikers. A draft of our existing trails map can be found on the website.
Fortunately, a mild winter helped offset the high energy costs we all experienced. Some of the Town’s programs have been successful in providing a predictable price and assisting in the adoption of cleaner energy supply. We’re relaunching another round of Community Choice Aggregation in July with our fellow municipalities, but we do acknowledge that with higher current market rates, it’s likely the environmental benefits this time could outweigh the financial. You will want to review the options to see if staying in the program makes sense for your household. Over the last couple of years, residents that subscribed to the Community Solar farm back in 2019 saved more money than the average Town tax bill and are currently paying around half of the utility’s rate. It’s become apparent that we will have to build and own a few more properly sited solar projects if we are to assist in protecting more of our residents against price volatility and insure a cleaner future. The Town government already produces more clean energy than it uses, and on a sunny summer day you can find that solar in Red Hook is producing more energy than the entire municipality is using in electricity.
With recent federal and state incentives, it’s never been a better time to investigate if home heat pumps and electric vehicle alternatives work for you. Our energy committee is putting together some information to help educate us all as these programs are rolling out.
It’s an exciting time in local government and Red Hook’s future has never looked brighter.
With gratitude for all that you do,
Robert McKeon
Town Supervisor,
Town of Red Hook