Dear Editor,
Florence gets it! Last week I read a letter to the editor in the Owego Pennysaver from Florence Alpert of Candor, N.Y. The letter was titled “Town Residents First – Village Residents Second” (www.owegopennysaver.com/PS/2017/08/08/town-residents-first-village-residents-second/).
I have never met Florence and I’d wager most of the 168 voters that voted in favor of abolishing the Village Court haven’t either. To those of you who voted against abolishing the Village Court, I implore you to re-read her letter and digest her arguments.
She speaks the truth of what the village board and I have been elected to do and what we are working towards. The board and I are very aware of how the Village of Owego politics works. Owego politics is comparable to teenagers trying to fit into social cliques. The Owego political clique, or as it is commonly referred to as the “Good Ole Boys Club”, do not have ALL the residents and taxpayers welfare in mind.
This group of individuals will seek to put their friends into power to spend and raise your taxes as they see fit. In the elections of March 2016 and March 2017 the village spoke loud and clear that there was a desire for change as this progressive board was voted in. The board and I delivered a budget this year with zero percent tax levy increase because we pared down our spending to a manageable level.
However, the recent referendum vote results all but eliminate that zero percent increase in the tax levy again for next year. The board has no other options but to raise taxes as options for paring down Village costs have been taken away.
The board and I are working hard to fix all the broken parts of the village, and believe me – a lot of things are broken. As a business owner, all of my companies have accounting departments, and they make damn sure that money is counted correctly, payroll is flawless, all accounts are reconciled and mandated information is readily available to state comptrollers or other government agencies within the due dates demanded.
The Village Clerk’s department is every Village taxpayer’s accounting department, you own it, and they work for you. Rather than correct many of the problems in the clerk’s department, many of you prefer to kick the can down the road and say, “It’s okay to allow someone to hold the most critical position in the village without a degree or professional training in accounting.”
Read what your auditor has to say in their report about our clerk’s office. The New York State Comptrollers Office is again auditing the village’s finances as I’m writing this. The report will be similar to the Village’s auditor (Insero from Ithaca, N.Y.) and the same as the last comptrollers report. It will be the same report as in the 1980’s and 90’s.
This is a very dangerous pattern and will continue to be one until YOU stand up and balance your village finances. It is no longer about being a “good ole boy” it is only about survival. Do YOU want to pay for a duplicated court system, duplicated police force, and unqualified village treasurer?
If the village taxpayers continue to ignore the problems now, then we all better be prepared for a serious property tax hike in the 2018/2019 budget year. The board and I worked hard to keep your taxes at bay this past year with no increases. I can’t see that happening again this year if we are unable to keep the budget in line with our current tax revenue.
So as previously stated, I implore each one of you to sit back and re-read Florence’s letter because, SHE GETS IT!
Sincerely,
Steve May
Village of Owego Mayor
Be the first to comment on "Florence gets it!"