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Putnam Valley Supervisor Reports After 60 Days in Office
School taxes and development issues are at the top of his list of concerns
by Edward Paul Greiff
After sixty days in office Putnam Valley Supervisor Sam Davis offers up his comments on key issues he is striving to reconcile and to move in a positive direction for the betterment of the Town. "Better a vineyard than a development," commented Supervisor Sam Davis on March 3, 2006 regarding the future development of the Cimarron Ranch property. "However," he continued, "as oil prices continue to go up we need agriculture close to home. But at the same time we need to protect our water sources and water supplies and that is where the problems come in."
"Our focus should be on the problem to be solved, not on the individuals involved," said Davis. "It is my feeling that you can catch a lot more flies with honey and you get further with a carrot than a stick," philosophized Mr. Davis.
Supervisor Davis expressed his fear that the large tracts of privately held land in Putnam Valley, such as Cimarron Ranch, the Gair property, and the CYO property, would be sold off for private home development. To help avoid such a catastrophe and to help stop the exodus of residents out of Town and out of New York State, Supervisor Davis has made the reduction of school taxes the most important issue to be resolved. A school tax based on property values is not a reflection of a person's ability to pay. It is driving people out of the State. "We have to make it possible for a person to stay, and the only way to do that is to change the way we finance our schools," says Davis.
Davis has been in touch with his counterparts in the counties of Putnam, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, and Westchester and other supervisors throughout New York State and together they are all planning to have bus loads of New York State residents attend a protest rally in Albany on Saturday, May 5, 2006.
"We are going to have representation from all over the State, from our legislators, as well as extensive media coverage," said Davis.
Their message is simple, "We are letting you know we are not kidding. Your jobs are on the line. Now we are out here we will be knocking on your door and if you guys want to be reelected, you are going to have to do something about this school tax problem, because we can't live with this anymore. If you don't act, you won't be able to act, because you won't be in office anymore," said Putnam Valley Supervisor Sam Davis.
Along with school taxes we also have to look at the way we are spending money in our schools. "I am a big supporter of consolidation in the school system," says Davis, "Putnam County has six School Districts and six Superintendents. Why not have one? It would save hundreds of thousands of dollars. By the same token if we had one central place for ordering, all the duplication of effort would be eliminated."
People are getting hurt by the present system and Supervisor Davis has made it one of his priorities to get it changed.
Another item high on Supervisor Davis' list of changes is revising and completing the Master Plan Update by the end of the year. It is an ambitious challenge and he is planning to have eight public meetings during the year in order to gather public input and communicate the committee's progress to date. Along with completing the Master Plan Update, revising the affected laws so as to conform to the revised and Updated Master Plan needs to be done.
"We want the public to be very actively engaged in the process for two reasons," says Davis. "First, is to keep them informed of what is going on; and second, so we can reflect their needs and desires."
Supervisor Davis continued his comments, "It is difficult to get the public to attend meetings, but the more the public is involved, the more they feel they are part of the process. All I can do is keep trying to let people know their input is important. For example we are going to have a public hearing on the Domestic Partner issue. A lot of people have registered their complaints. With that I want to make them aware that if enough people say they don't want it, then it won't be done."
Regarding BAR (Board of Assessment Review), "I am very sorry the BAR members filed the suit because it makes it much more complicated. There have been mistakes all the way down the line. This thing never should have gone to the public to begin with. In my view it should have been settled quietly without a request for their dismissal. I think these are decent guys, they may have made a mistake, but I don't think it was conspiratorial or intentional. Grievance Day is coming up; they are all active on the BAR except for Tanzy and you can't make them quit. They have given a lot of themselves to the Town. It's not like they did it in secret, knowingly or intentionally. I have always felt it was a very minor infraction and it should have been treated as such."
Supervisor Davis remains unflustered with the pressures of the job and the politics surrounding his position and says he plans to stick to his agenda.
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