Financial Condition of New Hartford??

Last week Town Supervisor Pat Tyksinski proposed the town hire a Comptroller. Actually it was Tyksinski's plan to hire Mr. Dreimiller who was Tyksinski's appointee for Finance Officer in January 2011, but the idea was voted down by the town board in a 3-2 vote. The discussion ended with only Tyksinski and Krupa voting "aye".

At the start of the town board discussion, Tyksinski made a pitch for the cost savings that might be realized with a comptroller...though it might not be apparent to some, we certainly realized that his figures were slightly skewed. He even took a couple of 'pot shots' at the Observer Dispatch.

After Tyksinski finished, it was time for town board discussion. Councilman Backman mentioned Town Law Article 3, Section 34 [Powers and Duties of Town Comptroller] whereby according to that law, the Comptroller "shall be the town board of the town during the continuance of such office" as far as the auditing of the bills. Meaning the town board would no longer have any say as to what bills get paid...Larry Adler/Shumaker.

Our opinion...The last thing this town needs right now is a Comptroller who has the power to usurp the town board regarding finances! What we need is a budget officer that is believable and above reproach...much like the one we had prior to Supervisor Tyksinski taking office.

Tyksinski tried to sway the board members to his way of thinking using arguments that only became more ridiculous as the discussion continued; even Town Attorney Cully tried to convince members that Councilman Backman was not fully aware of the law...that is until Councilman Reynolds stated that he agreed with Councilman Backman after a conversation he had with the Association of Towns. If you read Observer Dispatch reporter Bryan Ackerman's blog, you will note that even the State Comptroller agreed with Councilman Backman.

Here is the comptroller discussion portion of the meeting:

Back in January 2011, shortly after Tyksinksi took office, D'Arcangelo was hired by the town board to complete the 2009-2010 town audit by March 31, 2011 in accordance with Town Law.

On April 28, 2011, almost a month after the audit was supposed to be finished, we FOILed the Town Audit for 2009 & 2010 so that we could get a clue as to the financial condition of the Town of New Hartford.

According to the Town Clerk, we were to be given an answer to our FOIL no later than Friday, May 20, 2011...three weeks response time for a report that is supposed to be on file in the Town Clerk's office and turned over to anyone who walks in her office and requests it. No FOIL is needed to review financial documents that are on file in the town clerk's office.

But we decided to wait anyway. We waited...no answer was forthcoming. On May 20th, we were in the town clerk's office on another matter and we inquired as to the status of our FOIL request for the town audit. It was clear that the town clerk did not have a copy on file; she said she would get back to us.

We waited some more...May 26th, we were again in her office on other business and asked again. This time she called the Supervisor's office and his secretary said the audit was not done so we requested that the town clerk respond to us in writing as she should have already done prior to our visit.

The next day [May 27, 2011] we received an email from the town clerk stating:

Per your recent inquiry because the date of May 20th has passed for the Town Clerk's Office to obtain a copy of the referenced audit, this is to inform you that the Town does not have possession of such document as of this date and therefore, cannot provide you with same at this time.

You may wish to re-submit your FOIL request in the near future.

Gail Wolanin Young

Very craftily worded...not that the audit is not done as the Supervisor's secretary told the town clerk, but that "the Town does not have possession of such document"...a document that by law and by contract to D'Arcangelo is supposed to be completed by March 31, 2011. Almost sounds like the email was written by an attorney.

Fact is, other than the recently released State Comptroller's audit which was less than stellar, the town has not released town financial statements audited by an outside firm since the 2008 Financial Audit that was done by Barone & Howard. By the time of the release of the 2008 Audited Financials, we already learned that our "rainy day fund" was depleted to the tune of $2.8 million.

Given the track record of some town officials in recent weeks...we, as taxpayers, should be concerned...starting right now!

New Hartford Town Board Meeting...

tonight, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 starting at 7:00 p.m. in Butler Hall.

Agenda now online!

Stormwater damage...

was the topic of discussion at tonight's meeting held at the Donovan Community Center in Chadwicks.

Residents turned out en masse to voice their frustrations over stormwater damages suffered in recent storms; they wanted answers from officials in attendance tonight as to what plans are in the offing to help alleviate their persistent stormwater problems.

Town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski presided over the meeting. Also on hand were Don Backman, Ward 1 Councilman whose constituents suffered considerable damage; Elisbetta DeGironimo, Town Stormwater Coordinator; Brian Sanders, newly appointed town stormwater consultant; Richard Sherman, Highway Superintendent; Matt Bohn, Town Deputy Superintendent; and Town Attorney Herb Cully.

Noticeably absent was Ward 2 Councilwoman Christine Krupa whose constituents in the South Hills area sustained considerable stormwater damage.

County Legislators Brian Miller, Jim D'Onofrio and Fred Sadallah were also there to share some information regarding the County's part in the clean-up and also talk about their conversations with FEMA representatives who recently toured the damaged areas of town.

Concerned Citizens videotaped the meeting; it is quite lengthy, but well worth the watch particularly if you were affected by the recent storms but were unable to attend tonight's meeting.

"I requested the town attorney to do this"...

that's what Supervisor Tyksinski said after Concerned Citizens co-founder, Catherine Lawrence, read a prepared statement to the town board at Wednesday evening's town board meeting.

Supervisor Tyksinski even went so far as to again state that Robert Freeman, Executive Director of the Committee on Open Government, told Attorney Cully that they do not have to give us anything that is already available on the town website even though he was well aware that Concerned Citizens also contacted Robert Freeman who denied ever saying that to the town attorney.

In fact, by searching on on the web, we found a 2007 decision from Robert Freeman's office, that says in part:

...you requested a “file containing information about all mortgages and deeds filed in the City during the immediate past year.” For more than a decade, the City has maintained an electronic file of such information and has provided it in response to yearly requests from your company, Genesis Computer Consultants, Inc. This year, in response to your request, the Department denied your request and indicated: “... we believe that posting information on our Web site constitutes reasonable compliance with our obligation to make our records ‘available for public inspection and copying’.” You further indicated that “[s]uch data is of little or no use to you unless you have access to the entire file electronically so that you can make lists of various sorts and make comparisons of sets of data.” It is our opinion that if the Department continues to have the ability to make one year’s worth of data available to you in an electronic file, it is required to do so. [emphasis added]

If asked for the assessments on a cd and we are willing to pay for the cd, the town is required to provide the cd to us...is exactly what Robert Freeman told us when we contacted him last week and exactly what Robert Freeman told us he conveyed to the town attorney when the town attorney contacted him last week.

Here is the portion of the meeting where Ms. Lawrence read her statement and Supervisor Tyksinski responded:

When an elected official starts trying to take away citizens' rights by twisting the FOI Law to suit their own desire to keep information from the public, it is time to re-examine whether they are the person for the job. The fact that the town attorney was involved makes it even more reason for concern.

But wait, that is not all that went on at this meeting. More to follow...

Section 8 - Wholly Exempt Properties...

in the Town of New Hartford.

We have divided this spreadsheet into two sections. The top section is for residential properties that are wholly exempt from property taxes; the bottom is for other than residential.

Section 8 Wholly Exempt

Exempt total $ 290,228,552.00

One of the wholly exempt properties, The Hartford located in the business park, is now owned by AXNY Office LP and is assessed at $10,800,000. The purchase price was $20,500,000.00, about half of what it is assessed...sale date December 22, 2010.

The Hartford is actually paying property taxes to the Oneida County Industrial Development Corporation on the $10,800,000 assessed value. However, under the terms of the PILOT/TIF agreement, OCIDA then gives the money to the town to pay the principal and interest on $2.3 million bond that was sold by the town to pay for the infrastructure in the business park.

According to information we obtained when the bond was purchased, it will be six years before the town gets enough money to fully pay off the bond costs each year. Until that time, Larry Adler supposedly has given the town a Letter of Credit to hopefully cover the difference. If there is not enough money left in the Letter of Credit to cover the shortfalls...taxpayers will have to make up the difference.

More spreadsheets to follow...

Recent property sales in New Hartford

We are now making available an Excel spreadsheet with recent property sales in New Hartford.

Recent Property Sales

We have sorted the sale parcels by address.

If you look carefully, you will see where property values must have increased dramatically on Main Street in the Village of NYM. Although, we are not quite sure why someone would pay that much for a 3 family home with 1 bath and 1 kitchen particularly when it is only assessed for $75,000. Could it be a mistake?

Yes, this information is right out of the assessment database...the one that we FOILed and they initially denied us. The same database that is used for assessing properties in New Hartford!

According to Supervisor Tyksinski at tonight's meeting he was the one that directed the town attorney to find a reason to deny our FOIL request. You don't want to miss that videotape...it will be online this weekend.

Grieving Your Assessment...

The Office of Real Property Services now has a pdf version of the Grievance Form that can be accessed on their website using the link below.

This is a fill-in form...just type in the required information and print out two (2) copies of the completed form; one for the assessor and a copy for your files. Be sure that both copies are timestamped by the Assessor's Office for proof that the form was received on time.

Fill-In Form

The directions for filling out your Grievance is also available on the ORPS website:

Directions for filing complaints

You do not need to meet in person with the Board of Assessment Review; however, you must file a completed Grievance with the Assessor's Office in order to continue on to Small Claims or a Certiorari.

Remember...your grievance must be received in the Assessor's Office no later than the day the board of assessment review meets to hear complaints which this year is Tuesday, May 24th.

Town of New Hartford Residential Assessments...

for 2011 are now available in an Excel spreadsheet. These are all parcels in the 200 property class sorted by address and do not include agricultural parcels in the 100 class. That will be a separate spreadsheet.

Where you see blank spaces for sq. ft, number of beds, baths, etc., it is because the information has not been entered in the database by the assessor's office.

Residential - property class 200s

For more information on the different property class descriptions, please visit the ORPS website.


Next town board meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday, May 11, 2011 starting at 7:00 p.m. in Butler Hall.

Agenda is now online!

What were they thinking?

We now have the FOILed copy of the assessment database containing the information for the 2011 Tentative Assessment Roll. It was given to us late this afternoon when we appeared at the town clerk's office with a Notice of Claim in hand.

We will be posting several Excel spreadsheets this weekend to provide property information to those who wish to grieve their assessment.

We have been told by the town clerk that even though we have received the cd, our FOIL appeal will be on the next town board agenda. Believe us...one way or another it will be discussed in the next open meeting on Wednesday, May 11, 2011.

At this point, residents of New Hartford should be asking what is so wrong with the assessment database that the town supervisor and his appointed town attorney would try to pull a stunt like this in an effort to keep us from posting the database in an Excel spreadsheet?

We have been openly blogging about some of the problems with the database; other problems we have communicated directly to the town board in hopes of working them out behind the scenes. The reassessment program was a disaster. The unfortunate part is that it will take a considerable amount of money to correct the deficiencies in the current assessment database.

We cannot stress enough that if you feel that your assessment is "too damn high" and that your property is being unfairly assessed in relation to comparable properties, you should file a grievance with the assessor. You do not necessarily have to appear in person on May 24, 2011 to present your case for a reduced assessment. All grievance applications are reviewed by the Board of Assessment Review whether you have an appointment to appear in person or not. But remember, you must file a grievance in the assessor's office by the end of the day on May 24, 2011 in order to file a small claim or certiorari if you are unsuccessful to get your assessment lowered at the BAR.

So...what were they thinking? It is unfortunate that some of the people running our town government felt they could bully us. Guess all the talk from Pat about an open government was just that...talk because it was what we all wanted to hear.

Did they really think that we would just go on our merry way without a fight? Did they think we would not call Robert Freeman to confirm what he told them regarding FOILing the assessment database? Did they think we are not fully aware of the FOI Law regarding assessment data?

As an officer of the court, Attorney Cully has a duty to uphold the law, not try to circumvent it to satisfy the town supervisor.

Shame on them...

Tyksinski, the Reformer...

some of our New Hartford town "leaders" have just denied our request for the FOILable assessment data disk that by the NYS Freedom of Information Law is readily available from the town assessor and was even routinely provided to us by the Earle Reed administration, once we advised them of the law.

This denial is clearly in an attempt to prevent us from posting it in an Excel spreadsheet in time for residents to grieve their assessment.

Now why would they want to do that? Perhaps because we pointed out several parcels in the Willowvale Fire Department that were not being charged fire tax? Or was it the parcel that was so screwed up that the owner was only paying a little over $200 total taxes on a home assessed for almost $200,000 and also received a Veteran's exemption on a vacant parcel. Or could it be that there is a lot of grumbling about applying for reduced assessments due to the recent flooding problems? Or was it any other myriad of problems we have brought to the attention of the town board? Or just perhaps because they found out that we cannot be "bought" and will not "play ball with them".

Town Attorney Herb Cully told a member of our group that he supposedly had a phone conversation with Robert Freeman, Executive Director of the Committee on Open Government, in which Attorney Cully said that Robert Freeman told them they don't have to release it to us.

We knew better, the FOI Law is something we are extremely familiar with and have used many times...isn't that what they complained about in an Observer Dispatch article several months ago?

Funny, when we called Robert Freeman, he denied that he told Attorney Cully that the town didn't need to release the information...he stated that it is definitely available for the cost of the cd which, in the Town of New Hartford, has always been $1.80.

This morning, upon the advice of the town attorney, Herb Cully, the town clerk sent us a denial letter.

We immediately submitted an appeal and we have requested that it be put on the next town board meeting agenda for discussion.

In the meantime, we have the 2010 assessment database that they provided us with in answer to our FOIL request last year. We will be making the information available in an Excel spreadsheet this weekend.

If you have suffered stormwater problems or you feel that your assessment is "too damn high", please be sure to contact the assessor's office and schedule an appointment for Grievance Day, May 24, 2011.


We are also offering to provide help with assessment information to any town resident who contacts us.

"Reform Town Management"...how's it working for you people?

Stormwater...

Town Supervisor Patrick Tyksinski has announced that he has declared a state of emergency in response to the storms of last week.

If you have suffered property damage from the storm, contact the town Highway Department at 724-4300 to find out if you qualify for assistance.