BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — Two special meetings of the Potsdam Village Board of Trustees are scheduled for the coming week, one to pass the coming fiscal year’s preliminary budget and the other to hear proposals for streetscape work for Market Street.  

The mayor and trustees are scheduled to convene Monday, April 29 at 6 p.m. to approve the village’s budget for 2024-2025.

The board will reconvene Tuesday, April 30 at 6 p.m. to hear presentations on Clarkson University students civil and environmental engineering capstone projects for their downtown streetscapes proposals for Market Street. Two groups are expected to make presentations.

Both meetings will be held at the civic center board room, 2 Park St. 

The meetings are open to the public.

The Budget

The preliminary budget for the village for 2024-2025 that the board of trustees will vote on April 29 calls for the property tax levy for the general fund to increase slightly by 1.9 percent from $3,822,783 to $3,896,392.

Tax rate for the general fund in 2024-25 is also expected to climb slightly over last year’s by 1.86 percent to $17.48229 per $1,000 of assessed property value over the 2023-24 rate of $17.16355.

Total appropriations for 2024-25 in the general fund are currently estimated to be $7,763,767 versus total appropriations of $7,518,322 for the current year.

The preliminary budget is viewable online at the village website at https://tinyurl.com/4p4djjxy .

Streetscape presentations

The Clarkson civil engineering students who will present proposals for the streetscape work at the meeting April 30 are advised by Dr. Erik Backus. Students in that department have done research, analysis and engineering work for the village and other municipalities  as part of their academic requirements over the years.

In the village of Potsdam Clarkson’s student civil engineers have studied the crosstown canal, proposed a pedestrian bridge over the Raquette River and have developed improved pedestrian safety along the Route 11 corridor from the village to the Walmart/Tractor Supply shopping complex.

The village’s $4.5 million Downtown Streetscape Enhancement project, funded by a state Downtown Revitalization Initiative award, will include areas of Market Street from its intersection with Depot Street to the intersection with Maple and Main Streets, and Raymond Street from the intersection with Market Street to its terminus at Garner Park. New sidewalks, pedestrian safety features, decorative crosswalks, pedestrian-scaled LED street lighting through National Grid, stormwater management facilities, new street trees, way-finding signage, and street furnishings are some of the enhancements expected under the project.

Other enhancements will include tightening up some of the longer pedestrian intersection crossings and the installation of new street trees and planters.