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Putnam Valley Youth Set Example for Others to Follow While Public Questions Municipal Fiscal Responsibility
Thea Moeller presents thank you poster and Certificate of Appreciation to the Make A Difference Club for their generous donation to the Parks and recreation Teen Center.
by Edward Paul Greiff
The March 21, 2007 Putnam Valley Town Board meeting highlighted the passion and responsible character of the Town's youth and the apparent fiscal irresponsibility of the County and Town's leadership.
Councilman Bob Tendy spoke about a project Nancy Bierhoff is heading up with Girl Scout Troop 2251 to collect "Welcome Home" letters from as many people as they can from now until the end of the war in Iraq. They are encouraging people to write a "Welcome Home" letter to a serviceman and they will collect them and see to it that they are hand delivered to the service man or woman. Ms. Bierhoff said it was an idea that the girls, all ninth graders, came up with for a project to thank our soldiers and to let them know we support them.
It has taken a lot of work to get the Parks and Recreation Teen Center up and running and the youth to participate. They report there are some one hundred and fifty to two hundred teenagers that use the center each week. The teen center needed money to help support their activities so the High School Make A Difference Club came to the rescue; they raised a substantial amount of money and donated it to the teen center. Thea Moeller had the teen center kids sign a big thank you poster, had it framed and presented it and a Certificate of Appreciation to representatives of the Make A Difference Club. It is another project for kids by kids to show them that they care.
At the meeting, Putnam County Legislator Sam Oliverio took the opportunity to speak about County Executive Bob Bondi's "State of the County" address and said, "Bottom line, the County's financial house is in disarray." He was referring to, amongst other things, how the fund balance account has been depleted and that to rebuild it Bondi is proposing a 66% property tax increase and a sales tax increase, both requests were denied by the Legislature. Mr. Oliverio went on to remind everyone how he always asked for a small tax increase of one to three percent each of the nine years that Bondi had a zero percent tax increase. Oliverio said, "Sooner or later you have to pay the piper. The tax increase this year will not be 66% but more in the neighborhood of 15%. However, you take that on top of a 12% increase last year and an 8% increase the year before that and you are putting a tax burden on the people of Putnam County."
Oliverio said, "we are facing a conundrum, on the one hand we want people to shop Putnam, but we are raising sales taxes and people can go over the line to Connecticut and pay much less for the same things they buy in Putnam."
Putnam Valley resident Russ Messina once again challenged Supervisor Sam Davis regarding his performance as a Town Supervisor. This time it had to do with municipal fiscal responsibility and the Town's budget. Mr. Messina said three years ago the Town's Fund balance account had approximately $1.7 million, two years ago it had about $1.4 million, this year it has approximately $474,000. The Fund Balance is supposed to be ten percent of the budgeted annual revenue. "Mr. Davis," said Messina, "how do you intend to replace the monies taken out of the Fund Balance this year? If you have an emergency you have no money to handle it. You don't have to answer now but I will be closely following your budget process this year."
PVVFD Chief Bruce Johnson reported they responded to 31 calls this month and 68 so far this year. His fire safety tip for the month is to check and replace the batteries in your smoke alarm detector.
Ann Spoonhour reported the PVVAC had 53 calls for the month and made a plea for volunteers. They meet on the last Wednesday of the month at their building on Oscawana Lake road at 7:30pm. If you are interested please call them at 845 526-3119.
Ed Hertzel made it official that Town day this year will be held on September 15. The parade is scheduled to start at 11am and each group will have a chance to strut their stuff for two minutes at Oregon Corners. There are more floats, more prizes, and more activities this year. The festivities start at 1:00 p.m. in the park. If you are interested in helping out with Town Day their next meeting is April 2nd at the Fire House starting at 7:30pm.
Ann Spoonhour invited everyone to the next PV Arts Open Mic night to be held at the Lake Peekskill Community Center on Saturday April 28, between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
PV Arts also wants the public to know that they are sponsoring a photography and art contest for town day. The art work must be matted and framed. If interested call Ann Spoonhour at 845 526-3050.
PV Arts meets the first Tuesday in April at the YMCA Camp Combe facility starting at 7:00 p.m.
PV Library Director Kathleen McLaughlin announced two new online research database are available; Chilton's Automotive manual, and Price It for art, antiques, and collectables. It is free to access these databases just key in the library bar code on your library card.
The Master Plan Committee is holding a public information meeting at the PV Elementary School on April 15, 2007.
Lake Peekskill Quarterly District meeting is March 31st, at 10:00 a.m. at Community Center. Public hearing to discuss prohibiting motorized vehicles of any type on Roaring Brook Lake is April 11 at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall.
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