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RFH 2010, Cover Stories, Town of Hamilton

Town Election Shapes Up

Wed, Jul 13, 2011

Democrats and Republicans select candidates, but one GOP incumbent trustee is left in the lurch.

After two tumultuous years, the Town of Hamilton Board is facing an election in November that could remake the board in significant ways.

Residents will elect a new supervisor and vote for two trustee seats.

The Nov. 8 vote follows:

  • a 2009 audit by the Office of the State Comptroller that showed the town accumulated what it called a surplus of some $1.2 million. 
  • and a town-wide revaluation of properties earlier this year that caused property taxes to skyrocket and prompted widespread complaints and a highly visible tractorcade protest at the opening of the village Farmer's Market in May.

Both of these issues precipitated major public outcries and showed some divisions between members of the board.

The race for supervisor will feature two familiar faces: Democrat Eve Ann Shwartz and Republican Scott Mills.

Republicans running for two trustee spots are incumbent David Holcomb and Kerry Dart. The Democrats' trustee candidates are Chris Rossi and Dominick Pangallo.

Absent from this race is incumbent Dave Crumb. He intended to run for supervisor but received no nomination at the recent Republican caucus, and says there was maneuvering by the nominating committee to deny him a spot on the ballot. Crumb said he is considering his options; he could run as an independent or on the Conservative line. He said he was going to the county Board of Elections to pick up paperwork.

Incumbent Highway Supervisor Bert Glazier has been endorsed by both parties, while Republican incumbent Clerk Kathy Hotaling is unchallenged.

The supervisor's race is prompted by the June 9 announcement that Supervisor Bob Kuiper, a veteran Democrat elected in 2009, would not be running again. Kuiper came under fire during the protracted debate over the revaluation and more than a few residents called for his resignation. He was also questioned about how he handled the fund balances.

Kuiper was elected in 2009 by a 156-vote margin (698 - 542) over Mills, who had been a trustee and assistant to long-time Supervisor Walt Jaquay.

Shwartz is well known to town residents for a number a reasons:

  • she ran the Partnership for Community Development in its formative years;
  • was asked by Jaquay to head citizen opposition to the New York Regional Interconnect power line project;
  • and was part of the effort to rewrite the town's zoning laws.
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Comments(1):

  1. Town Election Shape Up

    Monday, July 18, 2011 Charlie

    Two corrections on an otherwise accurate and comprehensive story. 1. Revaluations by themselves do not raise the total amount of taxes. They shift the tax burden on property owners to reflect changes in assessed property values. The major overall shift in this year's preliminary assessments was from houses and other improvements to land, especially agricultural land and land bordering on the Seven Oaks golf course. 2. Bob Kuiper was a veteran Republican who began to change his party affiliation in response to President Bush's Iraq War and the national GOP's trending towards the extreme right.