Dear Editor,
The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) audit, dated November 2015, revealed that the Town of Owego allowed the unrestricted town-wide fund to grow to three times the tax levy (at the time of the audit the fund balance was $4.2 million, due to property taxes up 22 percent town wide, and 30 percent for part of the town in the last five years, and a health insurance carrier rebate of $850,000 for the employee health insurance premiums).
When the OSC auditors questioned this they were told that the Town allowed the fund to grow, in part, for the purpose of making renovations to the Town Hall and to the Town’s parks.
On or about June 20, 2017, a resident of Tioga Terrace addressed the Town Board about repairing the basketball court and the tennis courts at a park in Tioga Terrace that were damaged in 2011. This request was denied since the park would then have to be maintained, residents have found other parks to go to, and there is a boundary dispute in the location of the basketball court.
Tioga Terrace has about 300 homes and represents a large tax base in the Town of Owego. I believe that it would be good for kids and residents to have a place to go and enjoy physical exercise. And, having parks in good repair would make Tioga Terrace a more attractive place to live and more people would move into the Town of Owego rather than the Town of Vestal.
It looks like the Town of Owego has more than enough money to fix and maintain our parks.
Sincerely,
Meredith Kohn Bocek
Apalachin, N.Y.
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