By JAIME STUDD

For the Express

BROADALBIN — The Broadalbin Village Board voted 4-1 Tuesday night in favor of budgeting up to $54,000 to repave South Second Avenue and make repairs to portions of Saratoga Avenue.

The village will hire Cobleskill Stone at the New York State Office of General Services price of $67 per ton. With materials and labor, the estimated cost of the project totals approximately $52,000, leaving room for some incidental expenses that will likely arise.

All of the money is reimbursable through the New York State Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS.)

Village Trustee and Street Commissioner Tom Folts said the village had hoped to “piggyback” on the paving contracts of either the town of Perth or the town of Broadalbin, as it had in years past, but the company that was handling the work for the town of Perth was hesitant to do so after discussing the proposal with its lawyers.

“We had a pretty good deal going last year,” said Folts.

Even if the village was able to go that route, Folts explained, the price would have been approximately $30 more per ton than it was last year.

“The work to do this year is more labor intensive,” said Folts, explaining that paving in the village is made more difficult by the number of obstacles.

The increased number of manholes, paved driveways and water and sewer lines that exist in the village when compared to a town make the work more difficult, Folts explained, which was one of the reasons that they were unable to work out a deal like the one they entered into last year.

Before the vote, Folts told the board that if it decided against using the state price, its only other option would be to send the whole project out as a bid package, which offered no guarantees and would mean a significant delay in the project.

“If the board isn’t comfortable moving ahead in this direction, by next month we could have a bid opening,” said Folts. “We may be able to do better, we may do worse.”

In the interest of time and ease, the majority of the board ultimately voted to move forward with the paving project at the OGS price. Village Trustee Lawrence Cornell cast the lone dissenting vote.