From the Desk of the Newark Valley Mayor

Holiday Magic is a wonderful way to honor this spiritual time of year. It may be secular in nature; however by looking at the eyes of the young at heart, it tells us the story and the meaning of giving and life. This is the rationale for all faiths and beliefs to join in harmony. 

In addition to those matters, our Class “C” NYS Champion Cardinal Football team, coaches and cheerleaders, along with Santa, were the hit of the parade. Snow, music, gingerbread houses, a living nativity and food at the Depot and Noble Room, Santa and the parade bring fun and some joy to the Valley. 

These events come at a dollar cost and many, many volunteer hours. The collective royal “we” require more volunteers to step up and continue these community events. We are not a populated area depending on part and full time paid staff. These events continue based on our Village and Town stipends and the hard work and efforts of many volunteers. 

Who do you contact to volunteer, the Newark Valley Historical Society at 642-9516 or info@nvhistory.org; the Newark Valley Village Office at 642-8686 or villageofnewarkvalley@stny.rr.com. You can also visit the Village of Newark Valley’s Facebook page. 

Your Village code enforcement Officer, Scot Kasmarcik, along with your Village Trustees and Attorney Fran Como are developing different legalities for property maintenance. Distressed properties not in foreclosure, unlicensed vehicles, and other property maintenance issues are an important function for Municipalities. Your Village has been spending too much time enforcing codes in local court with residents out of compliance. The village is not ignoring the properties many are complaining about; however, it does take time as some of the landowners choose to ignore the property maintenance standards we all hope for. Please tour your Village and tell us what you think about our call for enforcing “zombie properties”, unlicensed and older / classic vehicles not covered or in garages, unofficial multiple cars for sale and any other methods of improving real value of property. Real value of property is being depressed by the community’s varying levels of upkeep and a sense of community pride. We are aware of assistance programs for property maintenance, so contact this office for information. 

We reported previously that I approached the Newark Valley Town Board in April 2016 concerning salt / sand / plowing of Village streets. Our thought is this. Village residents pay a similar tax rate to the Town as Town landowners. Thusly, if the rate is similar then the Village pays for town roads; so the Town should plow Village Streets. 

The Towns of Barton, Candor and Nichols do plow / sand / salt the Village streets due to this tax rate philosophy. Trustee Cliff Alexander and your Mayor met with Councilman Joe Tomazin and Supervisor Stu Yetter concerning this opportunity for services as many other municipalities perform. This month’s newsletter in Newark Valley contains responses from Supervisor Yetter and Town DPW Charles Meade. You can view the newsletter at http://villagenv.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/January-2017.pdf.

The bottom line is this. Village residents pay a similar tax rate to Town government, yet we do not get the services. Our comments, in many emails with the Town, offered two opportunities – significantly lower the town tax rate to Village landowners (or) plow / sand and salt Village roads. No other town municipality in Tioga County taxes their Village landowners with such onerous costs as Newark Valley. It is unfortunate that the Town collects the tax and does not perform the service. We will continue to bring forward shared thinking to our Town council in the future. 

We believe updating real value to the assessment rolls is fairness essential. The Newark Valley Town has the lowest equalization rate in all of Tioga County and that is not a good thing. That means assessment values are outdated and largely incorrect. I believe the last valuation was 1989 when real estate values were much different. 

I will give you some examples. A house sold last year for a bit over $40,000. After the sale, the new assessment by the Town is $14,000. You may wish to speak to your Town Council on these matters. 

Oh well, on to the next opportunity. Your Village Office and Public Works are working towards a March 2017 to February 2018 Budget preparation. The Trustees and Mayor will review and possibly adjust and resolute in middle January. We do see minor increases within the tax cap necessary and we will report as time goes by. 

This coming spring and summer will see Whig Street’s west side sidewalk construction; a result of two grants received by this office. Our multiyear capital plan is being created and we will present it to the Pubic this coming summer. It will include, but not be limited to, Municipal Building window upgrade, LED streetlight installation, additional playground equipment at the Trout Ponds, and other projects in the planning stages. We are working with Smart Watt, along with the village of Owego and Town of Owego to “own and lamp” the 164 fixtures in the Village. This Capital Lease arrangement payback is not yet complete; however, it will be less than ten years. At the end of the payback due to this arrangement and to the ten year warrant on LED, wattage cost will significantly decrease to those of us in the Village. Trustees and Staff agree this is a method of lighting improvement and dollar cost reduction. 

We mentioned in previous letters to the community that NYS Comptrollers were performing an audit for your Village of Newark Valley. Their findings were helpful to your Mayor and Trustees in formalizing our Capital Project format. The audit result was complimentary to our Village operation, financial compliance and our forward thinking. They, in fact, pointed to our tax saving methods. The Comptroller findings are located on the Village website, http://villagenv.com.