2007 Town of New Hartford tax rates

If you haven't had a chance to look over the 2007 Town of New Hartford adopted budget, here's some information you might be interested to know particularly if you live in the part of the Village of New York Mills that is in the Town of New Hartford

While it is true that the 2007 Town tax rate will only go up $.04 per thousand (from $2.01 to $2.05 per thousand of assessed value) for most of the residents of New Hartford, Village of New York Mills residents that live in the Town of New Hartford will have a tax rate increase of $.16 per thousand (from $.08 to $.24 per thousand of assessed value). These rates do not include any increases due to the approved bond resolutions that are scheduled to be voted on in January 2007.

If you are not familiar with the town budget, the General Wholetown is paid by all residents regardless of where you live in the town.

The Gen. Wholetown Minus NYM is paid by all residents except for those living in the part of the town in the Village of New York Mills. The Village of NYM does not pay this part of the tax rate because it is for the New Hartford Police and NYM has their own police department.

Residents living outside the Village of NYM pay the combined total of the General Wholetown and the Gen. Wholetown Minus NYM.

2007 Adopted Town of New Hartford Budget

We have posted a copy of the 2007 town budget that was adopted at the November 15, 2006 town board meeting on our website. You can either view, print or save the budget to your computer. We also have included a page with some facts about the town budgeting process and terminology. We will be writing more about the approved budget in the next few days.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!

Tibbitts Road meeting with Dan Gilligan

The meeting last night certainly answered some questions, but left many others unanswered. Some questions there are no answers for--we just have to trust the town and school to do the right thing. History has taught us that the present town board is not always upfront about things and we find it difficult to be optimistic about this co-development idea between the school and town. No matter which entity is planning on developing the Tibbitts Road site, bottom line, we will still pay at a later date by way of increased taxes.

The school is meeting with the town and village on December 4th to see how they might all work together. The school would have you believe that this is the first meeting between the town and school, yet Mr. Reed talks like he is well aware of the "wonderful" plan the school has and how "wonderful" it will be for the town. Everything is "wonderful" in Mr. Reed's world. They seem to contradict each other when it comes to who knows what about the "plan"--makes it difficult to know who to believe. Maybe after the Dec. 4th meeting, they will be able to get their story straight!

The current $26.2 million bond vote is for the Math, Science and Technology rooms at the high school, the Community Performing Arts Center, and the football field. It also includes the purchase of the land only on Tibbitts Road.

According to Mr. Gilligan, the school has no plans to develop the Tibbitts Road land for another 3-5 years. Even then, the school is currently only planning to use the land to build a bus garage/repair facility to replace the present ones located on the site of the high school. This new bus garage/repair facility is proposed at the far end of the 87 acres towards Snowden Hill. This building project will be presented to the public in a separate bond vote in the future and will add more "pennies" to the tax bill if and when the plan becomes reality.

The town, however, has their eye on this land for developing playing fields for AYSO and Little League, maybe trails, etc. Whether that will ever happen is speculative at this point. When asked if the town would be able to develop the land owned by the school and once again use permissive referendum rather than automatically bringing the spending to the voters, the response was--it is possible, but the school would certainly do their part to make the residents aware of any plans.

When asked about applying STAR to the total amount of the cost, they had an explanation, but it was apparent that perhaps the wording in the press release could have been a little different and then the whole concept would have made more sense.

Supposedly, there will be a hearing on the $26.2 bond proposal on December 5th, open to the general public, and a mailing will be sent out to all homes very shortly. We urge you to thoroughly read the mailing, attend the public hearing, ask questions, and by all means vote.

I came away from this meeting with mixed emotions. I appreciated Mr. Gilligan's willingness to take time to address Tibbitts Road residents, but at times, I got the feeling that the school was presenting their "wish list", particularly regarding the land purchase. I was not pleased hearing that the purchase of land on Tibbitts Road, if not used for anything else, was a good "investment for the school". If it turns out that they don't get approval to build the bus garage, they would be able to sell the property and realize a gain. I'm not sure investing in land is the function of a school board. It is clear they do not have an idea of what will be on the land nor do they have an estimate of the costs to the taxpayers or at least if they do, they are not saying at this point. There has been a drawing circulating that I believe Mr. Gilligan said was an architectural plan of what might be on the land. That drawing appears to have further complicated the issue and made residents worried about just what they might find in their backyards if the land purchase is approved. I think I would have felt better if the bond issue was only for the improvements to the present school. I would like more time to digest the information and hear both the town and school address their thoughts on the possible uses for the land on Tibbitts Road and give us some ballpark figures on the projected costs as well as a definite timeframe.

Whether this is a good plan or not, remains to be seen. However, the fact is that the assessments in the Town of New Hartford need to be looked at and fixed. No one should have the luxury of sitting back with no increase in their assessment while others are paying more than their fair share.

And bottom line, the purchase of this land will increase our taxes now and again, and again, and again!

If you live on Tibbitts Road & area

On Monday, November 20, 2006, New Hartford Central Superintendent of Schools, Dan Gilligan, will be meeting with Tibbitts Road residents at 6:00 p.m. in the Bradley Elementary Library to discuss the upcoming $26.2 million project. If you live in that area or just want to stop in, please do.

I have some questions for Mr. Gilligan and hopefully he will be able to answer them. I will report here on Tuesday, November 21, so that everyone can get some much needed answers regarding this project. If you have questions you would like to have asked at this meeting, please email us.

Mr. Gilligan states in a letter that he has met with all 5 PTAs, the Senior Citizens Center, AARP, Young at Hearts, Pippin Hill Garden Club, New Hartford Chamber of Commerce, AYSO soccer, Pop Warner Football and Little League Groups. Yep, looks like they got to all the "focus groups". I hope they didn't use their "fuzzy math" to convince the seniors that the tax impact is less with Senior Enhanced STAR. For that matter, anyone who thinks that the tax impact will be less with any STAR exemption is sadly mistaken. For the most part, everyone will pay the highest amount on page 2 of Mr. Gilligan's press release unless your STAR exemption is greater or equal to your assessment. Mr. Gilligan should publicly correct the inaccuracies in his press release so that no one is mislead into believing the cost will be less.

By the way, according to Mr. Gilligan, a letter will be sent home to all residents the last week in November. It's about time he gets around to talking to the rest of the people!

An email I received states "All information has been available for those who have been interested in finding it. Furthermore, I have attended at least four presentations given by Dan Gilligan and/or other school administrators discussing all elements of the project and offering to answer questions. Dan has personally offered to go and speak to any group to answer questions about the project. IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION CONTACT DAN!" Sorry, but I don't feel we should have to make an appointment to discuss this project. I believe it is the job of the school and the school board to see to it that this information is made available to everyone and not 2 weeks prior to the vote on the $26.2 million project. Just my opinion!

Assessment Debacle

As you may have already read on our website, at the November 15, 2006 Town Board Meeting, Councilman Waszkiewicz asked for board approval to reconvene the Citizens Assessment Committee to find a solution for fixing the inequity in the assessments done during the State Reassessment Program from 2001 - 2004. The board unanimously concurred with Councilman Waszkiewicz.

There are many problems with the Town of New Hartford assessment rolls. We have several reports on our website, and we encourage you to read them. The assessment problems need to be addressed prior to any further spending on the part of the school and town unless it is a necessary expense that is justified and fully explained to residents. Only when all residents pay their fair share of the tax burden, can a vote on further spending be a "true" representation of the "will of the people".

For the time being, I am choosing to remain hopeful that the town board is sincere in their approval of having a citizens committee work to make sure that all assessments in the Town of New Hartford are fair and equitable. However, given the past, I am not overly optimistic. We seem to have a Town Board that feels their voice is the only voice that needs to be heard. I would like to think that bringing almost 600 signatures to them to force the bond resolutions to a vote might open their eyes to the fact that we are a democracy--government by the people, for the people. Just because they were voted into office does not make them the "kings" of our town. And the same people that put them there can just as easily replace them in the next election!

Paving really is a yearly expense!

Well, Town of New Hartford residents, according to Mr. Reed at tonight's board meeting, the town board has decided to include paving in the town budget and to rescind the bond resolution vote. The bond resolution was for $500,000 for two years or $250,000 per year. Now it is once again in as a regular budget line item for $300,000 (the same as the 2006 budget for paving). According to Mr. Reed, the board thought about it and decided that paving probably is a yearly expense.

So there will now be 8 bond resolutions up for a vote in January instead of 9. The actual date for the vote will be announced sometime in December. Keep watching here for the exact date and be sure to vote!

Reason to vote for New Hartford School Project?

Had an interesting email today. The writer said that one of the reasons to vote for the New Hartford Central School Triple A+ project is because "From a financial standpoint this means that if the New Hartford school district, a relatively wealthy school district, does not take on capital improvement projects our state tax dollars are being spent to improve other districts."

You know, I'm not so sure I want to increase my tax bill just because my state tax dollars might be spent to improve other districts. Like this would be the only "waste" of my State tax dollars--not.

"Fuzzy Math" at the New Hartford Central School

I said I would comment further on the press release from Dan Gilligan regarding the school bond issue coming up for a vote on December 12.

My first comment is regarding the last two sentences in the first paragraph of the press release:

"The Board refers to this initiative as the Tripe A+ Project because it addresses district needs in the areas of academics, the arts and athletics. The "Plus" refers to the property which will be co-developed by the district and town for use by school and community groups."

Whoa! wait a minute--co-developed by the town and school? O.K. so how will the town be paying for this co-development? Are town leaders forgetting to tell us something regarding the $5.5 million bond resolutions up for a vote in January or will they be coming back at us in the future with another bond resolution? Let's get real here, ladies and gentlemen! If you are co-developing with the town, what is the total cost of this package?

I saw a picture of the proposed project last night. People if you think that Tibbitts Road is the only place this project will affect, you best get to Dan Gilligan's office and request a copy of the map for this project.

Now for the "fuzzy math". Look at page 2 of the press release. They give you the projected annual and monthly payments in taxes to support the proposed building program. They give you the cost with Senior STAR, with Basic STAR and with no STAR.

Whoa--wait a minute! I have never heard of STAR exemptions being used to reduce the costs of a bond payment. You already get your STAR exemption applied to your assessment on the tax bill you currently pay. The only way that STAR will reduce the taxes you will pay for this bond is if you currently do not pay property taxes because the STAR exemption dollars you already receive is more than your current assessment. Somebody is "trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes" so to speak.

And notice how everything is bundled up in one package. Why is the Math/Science/Technology wing, the Community Performing Arts Center and the purchase of land on Tibbitts Road all on 1 bond issue. Sort smells like the same thing the school does when their budget is defeated. They immediately take out sports, music, etc.

And how about the proposed names that everything will have? The James A Meyer Community Performing Arts Center, the Corr-McLoughlin School Municipal Park. How about calling one of the new sites the "Taxpayers Empty Your Pockets" building?

New Hartford School Press Release

Just received a press release that the school recently made available regarding their $26.2 million project. I was wondering when there would be some information available on this bond issue that will be up for a vote on December 12, 2006.

You can read a copy we posted on our website at http://www.townofnewhartford.com/schoolpresser.pdf.

I will be commenting further on the contents of this release, but thought you might like to read it in the meantime. By the way, there seems to be some "fuzzy math" on page 2 of the press release.

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog--New Hartford, N.Y. Online!

You may know us from our website at http://www.townofnewhartford.com also known as New Hartford, N.Y. Online. We created that website in May 2006 to make sure that assessment information continues to be available online for the residents of New Hartford, New York.

Since that time, we have expanded our website to include other items of interest to residents such as searchable board minutes, agendas, phone numbers, etc. because information seems to be lacking from the present Town Board and residents seem to be "left out".

Many issues face the residents of New Hartford in the coming months. In December, New Hartford Central School will have a vote on their $26.2 million project to include the purchase of land on Tibbitts Road. Thus far, the school has been very quiet on their plans, but we suspect there will be more in the next few weeks. The vote is scheduled for December 12.

In January, the town will have a referendum on the $5.5 million bond resolutions that were unanimously passed by the Town Board on October 4, 2006. This vote is a result of our collecting over 500 signatures for each of the permissive referendum bond resolutions. Without the efforts of volunteers and the willingness of residents to sign the petitions, this would have been a "done deal" because the issuance date on the bond was slated for early December--the Town Board had no intentions of bringing this spending to a vote by the residents of New Hartford.

In February, B.O.C.E.S. will be holding a vote on a $38 million project at their Middlesettlement Road complex.

We feel that creating this blog is the next step to supplement our website as it will give you a chance to give your point of view on topics affecting our town. Whether you agree with our posts or not, we welcome your post to our blog--we want to hear your thoughts on town government, spending, taxes, etc.