Village of Walden residents have waited for a long time for the Hill Bridge rehabilitation, and after discussion amongst Town of Montgomery Board members, there’s a chance it may never come.

On Thursday, Nov. 3, Councilman Ronald Feller read a letter from a local town resident. “I think it’s a terrible waste of taxpayers money to even be considering spending any amount on this project, let alone the amount being discussed. If I remember correctly, estimated from approximately two years ago, that time was in the range of $750,000.”

Now the bond resolution would be for $850,000.

Like the resident, all of the town board members, including Town Supervisor Brian Maher aren’t ecstatic about the funding requirements.

“Just so we can quantify the cost, if this is taken out of the A fund, the bond would probably be after interest, close to $45,000 a year which wouldn’t hit until the 2024 budget. That number is equal to about a little over 2% increase in taxes to the A fund,” said Maher.

The resolution for the Hill Bridge rehabilitation is largely based on legal advice from Attorney for the Town William Frank. Maher said that Frank’s legal opinion is to fix the bridge based on how certain laws read. “He’s (Frank) also saying there’s an option potentially to go forward and look at decommissioning and seeing where that takes us if that’s what the board wants to consider,” said Maher.

Councilwoman Sheryl A. Melick stated, “If Will tells us that we legally have to fix it, I guess that’s what we have to do, but if we don’t legally have to fix it, I’m not for it.”

Further, Councilwoman Kristen Brown added that she took a ride down to the bridge to address concerns about fire safety, which were brought up at their last discussion of the bridge’s rehabilitation. “If Heaven forbid there was a fire, there would be access from [I believe it’s] Sherman or Union that comes out onto Hill Avenue. There’s a road right there as well as Hill Street,” said Brown. “I do believe there’s enough space just by eyeballing it.” She also noted a fire hydrant in the area.

Brown would also like to see the Village of Walden pay for it because it’s within village limits.

Village Manager John Revella participating in public comment, disagreed.

“The people in the Village of Walden have waited over 10 years for a bridge to be reinstalled. It’s not just a matter of convenience but a matter of necessity,” Revella said. “There’s been a petition that’s been sent to the town previously as well. The current costs are going up year after year, so it’s best to get it done now.”

Upon the silence after Maher asked the board to make a motion to go forward with the drafted resolution, he asked fellow members what the plan was. Feller mentioned making it a bicycle path.

Ultimately the board decided to meet with the Village of Walden to discuss it further. No decision has been made yet.