Town Election Candidates Answer Questions

RFH 2010, Featured Articles, Town of Hamilton Election

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

Six candidates in town election answer questions at Hamilton Forum

Town Election Candidates Answer Questions

The Community Room of the Hamilton Public Library was filled to capacity Thursday night as candidates for the upcoming Town of Hamilton election answered questions from the public.

The Hamilton Forum, organized by the Rotary Club, hosted the discussion in advance of the Nov. 8 election. Town residents will go to the polls to elect a new supervisor and fill two seats on the council.

Participating were Republican Scott Mills and Democrat Eve Ann Shwartz, who are seeking to replace Bob Kuiper as supervisor. The Democratic candidates for the council are Chris Rossi and Dominick Pangallo. The Republicans are incumbent David Holcomb and Kerry Dart.

Larry Baker moderated the evening. Questions from the audience were asked of the two candidates for supervisor and other questions were asked of the four running for council.

Former Hamilton Mayor Ed Vantine asked the first question of the night. He wanted Shwartz's and Mills' view of the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing -- a.k.a. hydrofracking -- used in releasing natural gas in rock formations under much of the land in the town.

Mills said the state has taken the lead on dealing with the hydrofracking, but added his major concern was that town and county roads were protected from increased heavy truck traffic associated with natural gas drilling. He advocates for a countywide usage agreement.

While Shwartz said she had no position on hydrofracking, but said that the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) could not be counted on to protect the town and its landowners. She advocates for countywide baseline water testing so if problems do arise, the town and/or homeowners would have evidence that the water was fine before hydrofracking occurred. She also supports a production tax be levied by the state, and that there be a balance to protect landowners and the town while allowing for environmentally sound drilling when and if it occurs.

Mills and Shwartz ere also asked about the 2 percent property tax cap enacted by the state. Both said the town's budget will require an increase well beyond 2 percent and expected that Hamilton, like other municipalities, will approve its budget and tax levy with the super majority required by the state law.

They also were asked which committees they would seek to serve on at the county level if elected. Mills said he would seek to be part of the economic development committee. Shwartz said she would also seek appointment to that committee, but also want to be involved with the natural gas working group and the planning committee. Shwartz also said she would seek a change in the way the county distributes sales tax.

Former village Trustee Carl Albrecht asked thetwo supervisor candidates what services the town might share with the villages of Hamilton and Earlville and other municipalities to save money.

Shwartz suggested that it might be time to study the possibility of the town and village sharing office space. She said this could reduce utility costs, eliminate the rent the town now pays and also free up prime retails space in the business district. Mills said that it makes sense to discuss with other municipalities about joining together to make purchases to get better pricing. He also suggested it might make sense to talk to neighboring towns about consolidation, saying, "We have no choice."

Jody Palmer, a Hubbardsville farm owner who was an outspoken critic of Supervisor Kuiper, Assessor Dave Roach and the outside firm that performed the recent revaluation of property in the town, asked Mills and Shwartz about the revaluation and if a new one ought to be performed.

Mills said that while the revaluation "was a mess" there is no reason to redo it now. He said the appeals process straightened out most of the problems and that the assessor can address any problems that come up between now and the next reval. Shwartz said she did not believe the reval was done fairly and that many people did not or could not take advantage of the appeals process, which she called "very, very erratic and very unfair." She said the town needs to study the issue and, if necessary, pay for a new one in the future.

Candidates for the council were asked about the audit by the state Office of the Comptroller and the town's prior practice of setting aside money outside the budget to make capital purchases. Holcomb said that since the audit, the board has put in place systems to control who money is spent and by who, and that a five-year fiscal plan has identified upcoming needs. Holcomb also said that going forward, the supervisor and the bookkeeper needed to give more financial information to members of the council so they could make better decisions.

Pangallo said the audit is a "good road map" to what should be done to avoid problems in the future.

Candidates for the council were also asked about saving money in the Highway Department. Rossi believes the town's roads are well maintained and that what is being done is being done in a responsible way. Dart said he believed that the department is always looking for ways to be more efficient and that there probably isn't much wasted money. Pangallo said the most important thing to look at is an orderly and cost-effective way to to replace equipment, and suggested the town seek non-tax funding for a new salt shed. Holcomb praised the department, which has four employees on its road crew; he said that compares to seven workers in the Town of Madison.

The candidates for council were also asked about the revaluation, and the need for a new one. It was suggested by Susan Tallman that one was done in 2008 and not implemented.

Holcomb explained one was to have been done in 2008, but the council decided not to go ahead with it as it was the beginning og the financial collapse and the town was in the midst of a property devaluation scare because of the threat of the NYRI power line project. He added that the assessor should have performed the most recent reval instead of paying $50,000 to hire an outside firm.

All agreed the recent one was poorly done. Dart asked, "Do we need to do another one? No. No. No." Pangallo said that the recent reval was a mess because, in part, it was done on the cheap. "It's going to be a mess if you pay half price." He said the town needs to save for a reval every four years.