Murray supervisor running write-in campaign to give residents a choice

5Editor:

I wanted to let the people of Murray know that they do have a choice for Town Supervisor this year. I am running a Write-In campaign to keep my job. Many feel they lost their voice because they could not vote in the Primary Election.55

The Primary election in June was unusual, as it was a first for New York. Elections in Murray have been historically close lately, and in this instance, I did not secure a spot on the ballot. Many supporters expressed their regrets to me that they did not make it to the polls that day. That just presents me with a challenge to overcome. Do a successful Write-In campaign!

In going door-to-door, I am hearing a repeating theme from those who express support for my opponent. Good-Old-Boys club, change, and high taxes. It is difficult to change minds, when that is all they know, so I will offer some information on the truth behind these issues.

I retired a little over three years ago. I did not work in Murray, but commuted from here to Canandaigua daily, because I love living out here. Yet, I remain involved in my community in Rotary, Sons of the American Foreign Legion, VFW Auxiliary, and am a past Commissioner of the Fancher-Hulberton-Murray Fire District.

My only relatives here were on my wife’s side, until my son started raising his family here, with my grandchildren attending Holley Schools. Some of the complaints about a good-old-boys-club I hear are from some people who have lived in this community much longer than I have. Our current Board has three of five new members in just the past two years, all by open elections. No good-old-boys club here. Perhaps when someone actually gets involved in their community, rather than watching from the sidelines, this perception might change.

Speaking of change, since when did change for the sake of change actually fix anything, particularly if it is not broken? Take a moment and think about that. If you do not like the way things are, or, if you think you have an idea to make it even better without throwing the baby out with the bath water, get involved!

On to taxes. My opponent, in his last race for this job, had previously cited on numerous occasions, that the Town of Murray had a 15 percent tax increase! That was true, if you counted two very tough economic years together from years ago. Now, however, we have had a flat tax rate for two years running, and our budget for 2020 projects a tax cut. Yes, flat taxes followed by a tax cut.

Now, my opponent complains we are using money from our fund balances. We are. We have fund balances due to conservative estimates of revenue, and realistic appropriations. The resultant fund balance was allocated to return the money to the taxpayer in a tax cut. We just figured you would like your money back in lower taxes.

The State Comptroller’s office agrees. Our Municipal Fiscal Stress Score is excellent, at 3.3 out of 100 (the lower the number, the better). My opponent has proposed we have up to one and a half times our operating budget in reserves. I would hate to get the tax bill to stockpile that kind of money, and I am pretty sure you would hate it too!5

I love my job. I have the opportunity to work with great people, who strive every day to do the best job possible for the people of Murray. Write-In campaigns are tough. But I ask for your support in this effort to keep Murray on the right track.

On Tuesday under “Supervisor” at the bottom of the ballot, in the row for Write-In, please write-in “Bob Miller.”

Respectfully,

Robert G. Miller

Supervisor for Town of Murray