Mayor’s Message September 2025
Late summer in Rhinebeck Village is always a busy time of year. The Dutchess County Fair, Labor Day, and the beginning of the school year all arrive in a very short period of time.
Labor Day is a great time to take notice of the wonderful Village employees who do a wonderful job keeping our Village in great condition. Just as many of us have a list of “summer chores” at home, summer in the Village is when we do a lot of construction and maintenance, along with handling all the extra visitors and seasonal events. I want to share some of the great work that continued this past month.
The financial books for the fiscal year ‘24-’25 are officially closed. Treasurer Karen McLaughlin reported on the delicate balance between managing inflation and supporting growth. Departments kept within their budgets and transfers were made from capital expenses for the Center Street Water upgrade and for street and sidewalk construction and for the Safe Routes to School project. We were able to keep the property tax under the 2% NYS tax cap thanks to revenue generated by grants and interest earnings. A total of 9 grants this past year totaling $14,725,000 were used for projects in the Village. We ended the year with $895,671 in the General fund balance, $75,568 in the Water fund balance and $701,970 in the Sewer fund balance. To see the full report go to:FINANCIAL REVIEW 24-25.docx
After more than a year of hard work, the job of repairing the large release valves at Asher Dam is finally complete! It was an amazing project, including a diver who installed an inflatable balloon to plug the intake side to keep the water out. A contractor then removed the old valves to rebuild and re-install them. When that was done, the diver went back into the water to remove the plugs and complete the upstream investigation. We had our eyes on the weather forecast as it is hurricane season and we wanted to get it done before any potential storms. The valve repair was done as part of a larger project that will complete the required inspection of the dam that was damaged by Hurricane Irene.
And, for those of you who are fellow construction nerds, here is a deep dive from the Water Treatment Plant. The General Contractor has completed the flocculation and settling tanks of the conventional filtration system pictured below. Rehabilitation of the existing Trident units is progressing, with sandblasting, recoating, reassembly, and media replacement completed, except for instrumentation. The foundation of the new building is in place, and the contractor is awaiting final shop drawings for the new Trident unit, which will determine penetration points for the below-grade piping before casting the new concrete slab and the sloped breezeway connection to the existing building and significant lengths of ductile iron pipe and valves have been installed in the lower pipe gallery of the main building. The UV disinfection units pictured below have been installed. Flow meters and static mixers are on site and scheduled for installation in the coming days in the lower pipe gallery. The storage tank mixer at the reservoir was successfully started up last week. Wow!
Meanwhile, the project at the Wastewater treatment plant will start up again in December when the new equipment is scheduled to arrive.
The upgrades to the strom drainage at the Lion’s Mini Park is moving ahead with the design and permitting in progress and bidding expected in January 2026 and construction in Spring 2026. This will be a significant improvement to the drainage from Arnett Road and storm water run-off into the play area at the park.
The Village of Rhinebecks’ Website and email ID’s will soon be changing. New York State mandated that all villages, towns, and counties with at least 1,500 residents must have a website with a ".GOV" domain as of December 21. In addition we will be changing our emails to be (Name)@VillageofRhinebeck.gov, removing the NY that was previously used. There is no need to worry if you use the old ID or the old website domain it will still be routed to the appropriate place. Additional information will be sent out when this change goes into effect.
The Village board voted to go out to bid to clean up the trees on East Market Street, and in the Mini-park. If you look closely at the 51 trees on East Market, there are a lot of dead branches that are dangerous to pedestrians and cars. We sought bids to remove the dead branches and trim any branches that are too close to buildings.
The Village Board has also voted that Rhinebeck will be included in the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad New York Scenic Byway. There are 22 municipalities along the proposed route who are committed to working cooperatively to protect and promote this 544 mile corridor in New York State. Harriet Tubman, who had escaped slavery herself, played a major role in the Underground Railroad. It is documented that she helped at least 70 formerly enslaved people find their way safely from states where slavery was legal to freedom in the northeast and Canada. Between the years of 1827 and the end of the Civil War, the Hudson Valley served as an important link on the Underground Railroad, and Tubman herself lived in New York. While we have no documented sites here that we know for sure served as waypoints on that route, we know escaping slaves would have found support among African-Americans in our community, most notably on Oak Street, especially from a family who served as steamboat operators on the Hudson. Inclusion of the Village on the Harriet Tubman Byway allows us to honor our history as part of the fight against slavery in the United States.
It is with great admiration that I report that one of our Village’s finest is retiring. After serving the Village for 35 years, Officer Dan Alberg has retired from the Police Department. Office Alberg was presented with a plaque and a retirement badge in recognition of his service. Many of our officers showed up to wish him well and congratulate him.
Happy Anniversary!
Please join me in celebrating our employee anniversaries:
Water Operator Matt Green - 3 years
Officer Dan Killian - 9 years
As always, please reach out to me with any questions or comments. You can reach me by phone 845-876-7015 ext 2 at Village Hall or via email MayorBassett@Villgeofrhinebeckny.gov
Gary Bassett
Mayor Village of Rhinebeck