I must admit I am not very politicaly correct because I always make a point not to say “Happy Holidays”. In fact, if someone says “Happy Holidays” to me, I answer back “Merry Christmas”. So, have a very Merry Christmas!

On the town’s website Homepage is a Public Notice soliciting people to apply for appointment to the soon to be created Hartford Economic Corporation (or Local Development Corp).

The type of people we are soliciting are those with backgrounds, experience and knowledge in the business world. If you are a House Husband that is tired of baking cookies and you want to volunteer and contribute to your town, this might not be for you, unless you were a financial guru in your past life. This board will be a non-compensated board (no pay) and may have 5, 7, or more members depending on how much luck we have getting responses.

In order to promote the right type of growth and bring desirable businesses to the town, we need to be proactive in going out and finding these opportunities. Sitting back and waiting for them to arrive has not worked so hot for us so far. With this economy it is double wishful thinking that businesses will come on their own.

You may note that members of the Hartford Planning board are excluded from being members of the EDC Board. I have been asked a few times why this is since they are sort of related. My best answer explaining why is in this comparison; Imagine that there is a bridge into town and we are trying to woo new businesses to cross over that bridge and enter/settle in Hartford. The EDC is the group that would be standing on our side of the bridge woo’ing them to cross. The Hartford Planning Board would be the Troll that lives under the bridge. 

Not to besmirch the Planning Board as that really is their function. They require site plan reviews and other certain criteria and to ask a person to be a member of both boards and to donn completely different hats is asking too much in my opinion. You simply cannot be both good cop and bad cop. That is the system of checks and balances and is needed.

It is still unknown if we should create an EDC or a LDC. It all depends on the subtle difference between the two and what would best fit to accomplish the goals.  I’d like to first have this EDC Board appointed by the Town Board and then figure it out with members of the EDC Board doing homework, meeting with Wash. Co. LDC and then advising the Town what direction we should take. Then we create the entity that best fits Hartford.

For year 1 there is $10,500 in the budget to create and operate the EDC. About $8,000 will be needed for the legal paperwork end and then the remainder $2,500 will be for operating expenses. Then after that it might take about $2,000 per year for operations?

Even though the funding for the EDC comes from the Town and the members of the EDC Board are appointed by the Town Board, the EDC will be an autonomous unit independent of the political whims of the Town Gov’t. This is because the EDC is Incorporated.

Hartford’s EDC will not be the type to lend money. It simply will not have enough to do this on Town Funding alone. But rather it will be the type that may administer pass thru grant money for start up businesses, etc.  Many times, in order for a business to qualify for this funding, an EDC or similar is needed to administer the money.

Does Washington County have an LDC that could do this? Yes they do but they are focused on the county as a whole and Hartford’s EDC will be focused only on Hartford. The best way to affect our local employment, development, and tax base is to do it ourselves if possible.

Dana

In the recent past, I read the bylaws of the Hartford Youth Commission and noted that it states that all positions on that board that have a term about to expire needs to have that position publicly posted, even if the incumbent wishes to be re-appointed.

I thought that was a great idea and I want to bring it into all Town appointed positions for the purpose of transparency.

Even if the person who’s term is about to expire is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and there is no desire to appoint someone different, the position should still be publicly noticed. If for no other reason than to allow the public to gain the knowledge that an appointment is going on. This is transparency and we should not be afraid to let the public know what the heck is going on. This avoids any suspicion of “good old boy club” or closed society.

There are some expirations coming up on 12/31/10 for positions on various committees. At last Tuesday’s Town Board meeting I informed the public of this intent of mine and was asked by a man in the audience if this also covers singular positions that are subject to annual appointment by the Town Board or Supervisor. I did not think of that beforehand because I was thinking along the lines of committees but the question was a legitimate one and my answer was “well.. yes, why not”,  what is good for the Goose is good for the Gander.

Here is the list of what positions will expire on 12/31/10, even if the person wishes to “re-up”. Noted after each line is who appoints them;

Youth Commission Board3 year term: Krissy Stewart (Town  Board) 

Planning Board 7 year term: Philip Gibson (Town Board) 

Planning Board Chairman 1 year: Mike Sweezey (Town Board)   

Comprehensive Committee 3 yr term: Mike Sweezey, George Stokem, Chrys Nestle  (Town Board)   

Ad-Hoc Landfill Committee 1 yr term: Laura Chadwick, Thomas Abraham, George Stokem, Chris Lavin, John Holmes (Town Board)     

Court Clerk 1 yr term: Stephany Euber (Town Board/Justice)   

Enforcement Officer 1 yr term: Mark Miller (Town Board)      

Dog Control Officer 1 yr term: Ed Holland (Town Board)     

Attorney for the Town 1 yr term: Fitzgerald Morris Baker Firth PC  (Town Board)

Historian 1 yr term: Mike Armstrong (Supervisor)   

Supervisor’s Clerk / Budget Officer 1 yr term: Joel Carpenter, CPA (Supervisor)

 

Dear Hartford Taxpayer,

To my knowledge, this is the first time a Budget Letter has been sent out to Hartfords’ Taxpayers explaining the Town Budget. I feel that it is important to keep our citizens informed of their local government’s actions, especially how we are spending your hard earned money.

This year’s Supervisor’s Budget, which is my first as Supervisor will see a significant 15% decrease in the Town of Hartford Tax Levy. The Townwide tax levy (amount to be raised thru taxes) for 2011 will be about $135,000 less than last year.

This is a time of economic hardship. This recession we are in is the worst since the Great Depression. There are some reports that the recession is over but the next day there will be a report that it is back on. One thing that I do know is that employment is a lagging indicator. Jobs are the first things to be lost and the last things to come back. Therefore the time for tax relief is now, plus I think I can sustain this relief for the next three years.

When you receive your Wash. Co. Town and County Tax Bill in the mail in January, please study it carefully and itemize the bill separating “Town” from “County”. The tax levy for “Townwide Tax” has been reduced by about 15% and the tax levy for “Hartford Fire” has been reduced by about 0.5%. No two properties are alike but generally most tax payers should notice a significant decrease in their Town tax. Of course, if you recently added a large addition to your house or did something that really increases the assessed value of your property you may see an increase, but those persons should be few and far between.

This tax relief is possible because of three main reasons;

1) The Town Highway Dept., which takes the lion’s share of the town budget is running more efficiently. Superintendent Brown is using innovative ways to cut spending and stretch the tax payers’ dollars.

2) There are two new three year contracts that have been negotiated with both the Hartford Volunteer Fire Company and Hartford Highway Department Teamsters Union. Both contracts are rather conservative. Both contracts see about a 3% increase over a 3 year period. This is not 3% a year, but rather 3% over the 3 year life of the contracts. The Fire Company is made up of taxpayers too and they were real team players in realizing that a conservative contract is in the best interest of Hartfords’ taxpayers.

3) The Town’s Unappropriated Fund Balance is much larger than I think it needs to be. After careful analysis of the Balance and consultations with the NYS Comptrollers Office, Washington County Treasurer and the NY Associations of Towns, I determined that the Town of Hartford should have an Unappropriated Fund Balance of around 20% of the budget. This works out to be around $215,000. This is emergency cushion money in case something drastically goes wrong in the town that would not be covered by insurance, etc. When I came into office on January 1, 2010 this balance was over $480,000. By the time 2010 is over and we add in any left over budget money not spent so far this year, this balance will be well over $500,000 dollars. It only needs to be around $215,000. We need to give this excess back to the taxpayers.

My plan is to spend down the excess cash in the Unappropriated Fund Balance until we finally get down to the 20% level. I do not want to spend this down overnight, but rather take at least 3 years to get there. This excess money is money that you already paid in taxes.

Hopefully, the amount of Townwide taxes that you paid on your old 2010 Wash. Co. Town & County Tax Bill last year will be the highest taxes that you will pay for quite a few years. It is my goal to use the old 2010 Total Town Tax levy as a landmark and see how many years we can hold back the clock and delay until we reach those 2010 numbers again.

In the meantime, Hartford’s Government will continue to sharpen its pencils, think outside the box, and become more efficient. By doing this, Hartford’s Government will be cheaper to fund and we might stretch this relief into 4 or 5 years.

Regards,  Dana