A Tale of Two Cities . . . or a City and a Town

The building permit for the expansion and renovation of the Columbia County Courthouse carried a price tag of $38,728, which the county wanted the City of Hudson to waive. The building permit fee is meant to compensate the City for the time the code enforcement officer needs to spend making sure the work meets the requirements of the building code. The City didn't waive the fee, as the county requested, but it did reduce it to $12,000--less than a third of the original amount.

Now it seems that the county is facing more fees and expenses related to code enforcement--not in Hudson but in Claverack. To facilitate work on the courthouse here in Hudson, the courts have decamped to Claverack, where the county is leasing the old Claverack School, at significant expense, from the Hudson City School District. It seems, however, that camping out in Claverack may cost more than anticipated. The Town of Claverack Planning Board waived the need for a site plan review, but Claverack building inspector Stanley Koloski says that didn't exempt the county from having to get a building permit and a certificate of occupancy from him, and that process could cost as much as $9,000--although it's not clear much if any of that goes to the Town of Claverack. Nathan Mayberg has the story in today's Register-Star: "Temporary courthouse needs inspections."