By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 January 2015 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – The Tops Plaza on Maple Ridge Road will gain a new tenant with Carquest Auto Parts moving from Route 63 to the plaza, Code Enforcement Officer Marty Busch said.
Carquest is currently located at 4215 South Gravel Rd. Construction has started in its new home at the plaza. The location by Tops will give Carquest more space, Busch told the Village Board on Monday.
The plaza recently added a new tenant with Snap Fitness gym. That 24-hour location is at 11170 Maple Ridge Rd. Paul and Jeremiah Hackett opened the Snap Fitness. They also own a Snap Fitness in Niagara County.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 January 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Jonathan Higgins, a captain with the Medina Fire Department, was on the scene at a fire on Friday in Carlton. Higgins wants the village to pursue a federal grant that would add personnel for fire and ambulance calls. But the Village Board worries if there are enough ambulance revenues to pay for staff when the grant runs out.
MEDINA The Medina Village Board says it will leave no stone unturned as it looks for revenue to help offset property taxes. The board will also work to reduce costs in village operations.
Resident Betty Rogowski attended Monday’s Village Board meeting and wanted to know the next steps for the community after dissolution was rejected a week ago, 949 to 527. Rogowski said she pays $7,802 in taxes annually, and she wants some relief from the big tax bill.
Monday’s meeting was the first for the Village Board since the dissolution vote. Medina Mayor Andrew Meier pushed dissolution as a way to reduce the tax burden on village residents. A study on dissolution showed how the tax rate could drop by $6 per $1,000 of assessed property on villagers.
Meier said Medina will be hard pressed to come up with ways to reduce taxes in the village by a similar amount without dissolution. The village would need about $1 million in new revenue or cuts to make that kind of impact.
Village officials need to have a new budget approved by April 30. The 2014-15 budget took in $2,738,602 in taxes from village property owners for a $16.44 tax rate.
Meier sees trimming the budget as something the board has some control over.
“We will have to find cost reductions,” he said.
Assistance from the local towns, county and state are all outside village control, Meier said.
Trustee Mike Sidari said the other governments need to be asked for help.
“Let’s get the ball rolling and put some pressure on our elected officials,” Sidari said.
He wants the village to pursue more state aid and a bigger share of the sales tax revenue in the county.
Medina currently gets $38,811 in state Aid and Incentives to Municipalities. That is a paltry sum for a village of 6,065 people, Sidari said, especially when smaller-size cities get far more. Sherrill in Oneida County gets $372,689 in AIM funding for a city of 3,071 people, he noted.
Sidari said the village should craft an official resolution, seeking more state funding, and distribute it to other villages and towns in the county and region, trying to build a movement. The board tasked Village Attorney Matthew Brooks to write a formal resolution to be voted on soon in the future.
Meier said the board shouldn’t expect any more money from the state. The governor’s budget didn’t include any AIM increases. Meier doesn’t have much hope the state would respond to the villages.
“Any increase appears DOA (Dead On Arrival),” Meier said.
But he supports passing a formal resolution, stating the value of villages and why the state should provide them with fair AIM funding.
The county had a big year for sales tax revenue in 2014, increasing by 5.96 percent from $14,819,904 to $15,703,362. The county has frozen the share to local towns and villages since 2001 at $1,366,671. Resident Tim Elliott said now is good time to push for more sales tax because of the increase for the county and the fact that it is no longer paying for the county nursing home.
The village of Medina receives $159,586 of the local sales tax or about 1 percent. Meier estimated that 30 percent of the sales tax in the county is generated by businesses in the village or close to the village borders.
He said he has pressed for more of the local sales tax in recent years, but has always been rebuffed from the county leaders.
Sidari said the village should make it an issue and engage other towns and villages in the county in seeking more of the funding.
Prior to the dissolution vote, the leaders of the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway both said they had ideas for reducing village costs. Meier and the Village Board said they await concrete proposals from Skip Draper, town supervisor of Shelby, and Brian Napoli, the supervisor in Ridgeway.
In the meantime, the board will look closer at village operations, trying to reduce costs.
Medina Fire Department Captain Jonathan Higgins sees a federal grant for hiring four firefighters as a way to improve services in the community and reduce the local cost.
A federal Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response grant would cover firefighters’ salary, benefits and retirement contributions for two years, as long as Medina maintains its existing staffing levels of 13 full-time firefighters, Higgins said.
The village could count two existing temporary positions for the grant and add two more full-timers, Higgins said. The added staff would reduce overtime costs for the department, and ensure the department has manpower for all of its calls.
Meier has concerns about adding the staff, even if it is grant funded. The village would unlikely be able to afford the positions after two years based on ambulance revenues.
“I don’t think we should set ourselves up for a difficult decision in two to three years,” Meier said. “I don’t see our revenues to the point where we can sustain four more firefighters.”
The village is 58 percent of the way through its budget year and the fire department has 57 percent of the revenues, putting it slightly behind pace for $1,050,000 budgeted. If the department keeps up that pace, it would be about 2 percent off budget or a $20,000 difference.
The fire department on Nov. 1 raised the mileage reimbursement rate for ambulance calls from $20 to $30. With 34,000 miles a year on ambulance calls that change could generate $340,000 if fully realized. But Meier said Medicare rates, self pay and other uncollected revenue makes that a big question mark.
The board delayed the decision to pursue the grant until Feb. 9 when it could have a better sense of revenue projections for the future, and the impact of added staff on reducing overtime.
The board did vote on Monday to raise most ambulance fees by 3 percent and increase the out-of-district charge from $50 to $75 for each call. That charge doesn’t apply to western Orleans County, including the villages of Medina and Lyndonville, and towns of Yates, Shelby and Ridgeway. The charge would be added to bill for calls in central Orleans County, eastern Niagara and Genesee County.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 January 2015 at 12:00 am
Todd Zinkievich has led department since 2003
Photos by Tom Rivers – Todd Zinkievich is pictured outside the Medina Fire Department in this file photo from March 2013. Under his leadership, the department replaced Rural Metro as the primary ambulance provider in western Orleans County in July 2007. The department responded to nearly 3,000 calls in 2014, its busiest ever.
MEDINA – Todd Zinkievich has led the Medina Fire Department through a momentous time in its history, particularly with the Fire Department replacing Rural Metro in July 2007 as primary ambulance provider in western Orleans County.
The Department grew from six full-time firefighters to 13 now, plus two temporary full-time positions and about 20 call men. The call volume has jumped from about 300 a year a decade ago to 2,986 in 2014, the most ever in the Fire Department’s history.
The call volume continues to grow at a rate of about 200 per year since the ambulance switch. Zinkievich is proud of the level of service from the department, but he told the Village Board the department needs a new leader. He intends to retire this summer with his last on July 3, although he said the last official day will likely be later due to comp time.
“The last couple of years have been very, very stressful on me,” Zinkievich told the Village Board tonight. “I’ve tried to disguise how much this whole dissolution has affected me.”
Village residents last Tuesday voted to reject dissolution by a 949-527 vote. But Zinkievich said the uncertainty with the issue, whether the village government and Fire Department would dissolve, took a toll on him and other village employees.
“Quite honestly I’ve lost my vision for the department,” he said. “We didn’t know which direction we were going in.”
Zinkievich made the annoucement today because he wanted to give the Village Board plenty of notice about his retirement to allow for a smooth transition to a new chief.
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier told Zinkievich he should be proud of his record of service to the Fire Department and community.
“These guys made my badge shine,” Zinkievich responded. “We’ve built this into one of the best fire departments in the state and I feel in the country.”
Medina Fire Chief Todd Zinkievich takes a short breather while fighting a fire on Jan. 6 at a Ridgeway farm.
Other Village Board members praised Zinkievich for his effort, especially for his leadership as the department expanded its commitment to the community with the ambulance service.
Zinkievich joins the firefighters on many of the calls. He is an intermediate EMT.
“Because we’re such a small department I have to run on a lot of the calls,” Zinkievich told Orleans Hub in a March 2013 interview. “I do, too, because I’ve always been a firm believer that we should spread the workload amongst all of our employees. When you take one person, myself, out of that equation of 13, you’re taking 7.3 percent of your workforce away from it. These guys are working hard and they’re working hard for us, so I’m going to work hard alongside them. I go on my fair amount of ambulance calls. I may be driving the ambulance or in back as a medic.”
Zinkievich grew up in a firefighting family. He first joined the East Shelby Volunteer Fire Company before joining Medina in 1994.
“I love helping people,” he told Orleans Hub in a previous interview. “I love making a difference in somebody’s life. Generally when we’re called somebody is in trouble. They’re either hurt or something is on fire. It’s up to us to get there, mitigate it and offer whatever assistance we can.”
MEDINA – Two Medina residents were arrested today and jailed on drug charges, the Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force reported.
Shine
The arrests were made following a 2-month-investigation into the sale and distribution of crack cocaine in the Village of Medina, the Task Force reported.
The Task Force, the Orleans County Multi-Agency SWAT Team and the Medina Police Department executed a search warrant at 125 Starr St., lower apartment.
The following were arrested:
Andre D. Shine, 31, of 125 Starr St., lower apartment. He was charged with four counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree (a class B felony) and four counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (class B felony).
He was arraigned in the Town of Ridgeway Town Court by Justice Joseph Kujawa. Shine was committed to the county jail without bail, due to a previous criminal history, the Task Force reported.
Major
Shine is to appear in Town Court at 1 p.m. on Jan. 28.
Amanda L. Major, 24, of 125 Starr St., lower apartment. She is charged with one count of both criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, which are class B felonies.
Major was arraigned by Ridgeway Town Justice Joseph Kujawa and remanded to county jail on $20,000 bail.
She is due back in Town Court at 1 p.m. on Jan. 28.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 January 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli talks with reporters after dissolution was defetated on Tuesday. Napoli said the town can find cost savings for the village through shared services
MEDINA – With residents casting a decisive blow against dissolving the village, Medina Mayor Andrew Meier and town leaders from Shelby and Ridgeway say they will work towards cooperation to reduce the costs of government in the community.
Meier pushed dissolution, seeing it as a way for a more efficient government for the Medina area, while also bringing in much-needed state aid.
The dissolution plan was fiercely opposed by the leaders from the two town governments, as well as village employees and many village residents. The referendum – “Shall the Village of Medina, New York be dissolved?” – was defeated, 949-527. By law, the issue can’t be voted on again for at least four more years.
Meier said the village faces the same challenges after the vote as it did to start the day.
“We still have a declining tax base, a shrinking population and climbing costs,” he said shortly after the results were announced. “Our sustainability predicament remains.”
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier said he looks forward to seeing proposals from the two towns on how to reduce government costs in the Medina community.
Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli said he wants to have serious talks with the village and Shelby town officials about shared services. He believes that cooperation among the municipalities can reduce taxes for village residents.
“The residents (through this vote) told us they want us to look at shared services,” Napoli said in the Senior Center, where many village and town officials, and other residents were gathered to hear the results of the vote.
David Stalker is a member of the Ridgeway Town Board who lives in the village. He sees the village is struggling and needs some help.
“We’ve been ready and willing to talk,” Stalker said about the Ridgeway officials.
He was among the group that waited for nearly 1,500 ballots to be counted, by far the most of an village vote in at least a generation.
Election Inspector Judy Szulis announced the results at 10:35 p.m. The polls closed at 9 p.m.
Stalker was like many of the residents who worried about the fate of the Fire Department and Police Department if dissolution had passed.
“I like having them and knowing they can be there in 3 minutes,” he said.
That was a common refrain from voters interviewed by the media on Tuesday. Residents said they don’t like their high taxes, but they said they didn’t want to lose a responsive police force and fire department.
“Taxes you can deal with, but the proper time for emergencies can’t be compromised,” said resident Peter Kaiser, 31.
He was one of several residents who wasn’t able to vote because he wasn’t registered. He said he assumed he could vote as a village resident, but he wasn’t recorded as registered by the Orleans County Board of Elections.
Tracy Cody had the same situation. She lives in the village, but unbeknownst to her, she wasn’t registered to vote.
She also owns land outside the village in Ridgeway. She went to the polls on Tuesday, concerned her town taxes would go up if dissolution went through. She also didn’t like the uncertainty with the police and fire department.
She supports the idea of one government for the community, with the two towns merged and a village dissolution to follow. She thinks consolidating the two towns is the first step.
“Combine everything into one,” she said.
It was a busy day for election inspectors with nearly 1,500 people voting at the Senior Center. Election inspector Norma Huth is at left wth inspector Judy Szulis at right.
Mayor Meier and supporters of OneMedina see merger of the two towns and elimination of the village as an ultimate goal for the community, providing a streamlined government, more state aid and a stronger political voice.
OneMedina saw dissolution of the village as a first step, but folding the village services into the towns, different taxing districts and an LDC for sewer services proved confusing to many people.
One woman, a life-long Medina resident at age 74, said there were too many unknowns if dissolution had passed.
“Everything is so unclear to everybody,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “It’s been back and forth with the facts and there’s been too much fighting.”
Crystal Petry, 22, is a Shelby volunteer firefighter who lives in the village. She voted against dissolution. She said the Medina Fire Department, which includes paid firefighters, is critical to western Orleans County. She also thought it was unfair to residents in Shelby and Ridgeway outside the village who faced tax increases if the referendum had passed.
“There’s other ways of going about doing it,” Petry said. “Give the towns a chance.”
Steve Seitz, a Shelby town councilman, said Shelby welcomes the village officials for ongoing dialogue about sharing services.
“Hopefully we can get back to the table,” Seitz said.
Meier said he was encouraged by the 527 “yes” votes, 36 percent of the total. The 527 tops the number of people who voted in the last village election. Only about 400 voted last March.
He said dissolution could loom again because of the difficult situation the village faces. It has limited options for boosting revenue to pay for the services the community values so much. Meier said the village shouldn’t just raise property taxes. The $54 rate per $1,000 of assessed property (village, town, county and school taxes) is one of the highest in the state.
Election inspectors Mary Ann Arder, left, and Norma Huth count ballots. It took about an hour and half to record all of the votes.
Residents and businesses can save significant money in taxes just by moving outside the village and avoiding the village’s $16.44 tax rate. Dissolution would have chopped the overall rate by about $6 per $1,000, saving $420 for a village property owner with a house assessed at $70,000.
“Sometimes it takes time for people to warm up to this kind of transformational change,” Meier said. “We voted tonight. I can’t say if this will be the last vote on the issue. This is a conversation that will continue for years to come.”
He noted a vote to abolish the village court failed in its first vote but sailed through the second time in 2010.
Village Trustee Mark Irwin supported dissolution and was disappointed to see it be rejected. He noted a strong push from the dissolution foes – “They preyed on peoples’ misunderstanding.”
A dissolution plan would have preserved existing village services, realized $277,000 in efficiency saving and $541,000 in additional state aid.
“Right now the ball is in the towns’ court,” Irwin said.
Meier said he looks forward to seeing the ideas and plans from the two towns.
“I think we really need to figure out what the towns’ proposal are,” he said. “They have said, ‘There are better ways, there are better ways.’ All eyes are on them to follow through with what they said.”
The 1,476 who went to the polls on Tuesday is about half of the people who were eligible to vote. The village has 6,065 residents, according to the 2010 Census. Judy Szulis, an election inspector, was pleased by the big turnout.
“We’ve had people come out who had never voted before in a village election,” Szulis said. “There have been a lot of new faces in here today, which is a good thing.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 January 2015 at 10:38 pm
Photo by Tom Rivers – A “No Dissolution” sign, one of many in the Medina community, appears on West Center Street.
MEDINA – Village residents voted to keep their village government today in one of the busiest and most contentious local elections in recent memory.
By a 949 to 527 vote, residents voted to reject dissolving the village. That will preserve the police department, a paid fire department, Department of Public Works and other village employees.
Supporters of dissolution pushed to dissolve the village, saying it would cut about $6 off the tax rate for village property owners, who pay one of the biggest combined tax rates in the state. That would have cut village taxes by $420 for a house assessed at $70,000.
But residents against dissolution worried about the loss of services. Town officials in Shelby and Ridgeway said they wouldn’t match the “heightened services” that villagers currently enjoy.
Orleans Hub will have more coverage on the dissolution vote.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 January 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Village residents are showing up in big numbers at the polls today to vote whether or not the village government should dissolve.
East Center Street is lined with signs, showing support for dissolution and also urging villagers to oppose it.
These signs appear in a front yard along South Main Street.
About 200 people voted in the first two hours the polls were open after noon today. Voting is at the Senior Center at 615 West Ave.
Village residents are asked one question: “Shall the Village of Medina, New York be dissolved?”
Norma Huth, right, is one of the election inspectors inside the Senior Center.
Two voters leave the polls and another resident makes her way to the voting site, which will be open until 9 p.m.
This vehicle parked in a village municipal lot shows how one person feels about the dissolution issue.
Boundaries have been established as people make their way to the polls.
The name, “MEDINA,” is on the train depot, which is now the Senior Center. Orleans Hub will have results of the referendum later tonight.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 January 2015 at 12:00 am
About 3,000 eligible to vote on dissolution
MEDINA – A big turnout is expected at the polls today when the Village of Medina votes whether or not to dissolve the village government.
There are about 3,000 eligible voters. Residents 18 and over had to register to vote with the Orleans County Board of Elections by 10 days before today’s election.
There are 37 absentee ballots, and most have already been received by this morning, said Village Clerk-Treasurer Debbie Padoleski. Another 49 ballots were issued to disabled residents. All of these ballots need to be in today to count in the election.
The polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. at the Senior Center at 615 West Ave. Residents will be asked “Shall the Village of Medina, NY, be dissolved?”
The votes will be cast on paper ballots. Padoleski expects election inspectors will have the votes counted by 9:30 to 10 p.m.
Recent village elections have had light turnouts. A mayor and trustee election last March only turned out about 400 voters. Two write-in candidates, Mike Sidari and Marguerite Sherman, pulled off an upset in that election, which included Andrew Meier as an unopposed candidate for mayor.
In March 2009, about 600 people voted in a trustee race where Kelly Kiebala and Mark Irwin were victorious over Owen Toale and Clayton Ehrenreich.
A year after that election, Ehrenreich and Tabelski both ran for mayor. About 800 people voted then, with Tabelski, the incumbent, winning another two-year term.
Padoleski said the village elections used to draw more people to the polls. She remembers when the races would bring out at least 1,000 voters.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 January 2015 at 12:00 am
Voters go to polls from noon to 9 p.m.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Village residents will vote today at the former New York Central Railroad Station, which is currently the Senior Center at 615 West St.
MEDINA – Village residents 18 and older will go to the polls today to decide if Medina will continue its village government.
Dissolution has been in the news for many months, even drawing the attention of media in Rochester and Buffalo. Supporters of dissolution say it will help reduce the tax burden on village residents, who pay one of the highest combined tax rates for school, village, town and county taxes in the state.
Dissolution opponents fear critical village services would be lost, especially with police and a paid fire department. They point to Lyons, which last year voted to dissolve its village with a plan for the Town of Lyons to assume police services.
The Town Board has decided not to continue the Lyons Police Department, with the calls to be handled by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department after Dec. 31.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 January 2015 at 12:00 am
Editorial
That will be the question Tuesday, when village residents go to the polls from noon to 9 p.m. at the Senior Center
MEDINA – Dissolution of the village has been a heated topic for much of the past year. You don’t see much sustained interest in civic affairs these days, with public policy issues bringing hundreds of people to informational meetings.
Residents have been inundated with messages from the media, paid mailers, yard signs and impassioned citizens on both sides. The dissolution issue has drawn the attention of media throughout Western New York. Many villages wrestle with similar issues faced in Medina: escalating taxes on a shrinking tax base and population.
One thing is clear: villagers and people outside the village value the work done by the Medina Fire Department, the Police Department, the Department of Public Works and other village staff. The village isn’t putting out a bad product.
The issue is money and how to pay for these services. The village receives little in state aid and from the local sales tax dollars to help pay for these services. That seems unlikely to change.
State funding
Orleans Hub has written about the funding disparity from the state for Aid and Incentives to Municipalities. Villages get about $7 per capita in AIM funding while upstate cities get $277 per person. It is a dramatic difference and it’s a big reason while city taxes are much lower than in villages like Medina. Consider that the City of Batavia has a tax rate of about $9 per $1,000 of assessed property and the village of Medina has a combined village/town rate of about $20.
Medina, population 6,065, receives $38,811 in AIM funding. Salamanca in Cattaraugus County is nearly the same size and gets $928,131 for a city of 5,815 people.
Fair AIM funding would do more for Medina than dissolution. The question is whether the village would ever get much more in AIM. I don’t think so under Gov. Andrew Cuomo and this State Legislature. The governor wants fewer governments, and villages are an extra layer within towns.
The governor supports state funding to dissolve or consolidate governments. That incentive would be $541,000 for the Medina community.
I’d like to see more. Only 11 villages out of about 550 have followed through with dissolution since 2009. Many of them are tiny without police.
Many of the villages don’t trust that the state incentive money will be there for years to come. No one can say for sure.
If the state wants to promote more dissolutions it should increase the incentive. Right now it’s 15 percent of the combined tax levy in the affected municipalities. I’d like to see at least $1 million for the Medina community. That’s about what Medina would get in AIM funding if it were a city.
Village residents need to consider the political environment. Is there a reasonable chance the AIM funding will be increased? The governor this past week announced a $1.7 billion tax relief proposal for upstate. He didn’t include more AIM money.
Our state legislators don’t seem optimistic we’d get more, and frankly it’s not an issue they’ve rallied behind. None of the local towns or the county have taken up the fight to help villages get more AIM funding. The municipalities haven’t even passed a symbolic resolution of support.
Our poorest people pay the highest taxes
Medina village residents receive “heightened services” with police and a paid fire department. Those employees will often go outside village borders to assist in the towns. The Medina Police Department responds to about 200 calls outside the village annually, for example.
The village property owners foot the bill for all of this work. And then they pay in town and county taxes.
The Medina Fire Department heads down East Center Street on an ambulance call Friday that was outside the village.
It wasn’t too long ago when Middle Class families and the more well-to-do made villages their destination of choice for owning a home. The taxes may have been higher, but the residents could afford it. The poorer folks tended to be out in the country.
Those roles have reversed. Census data shows the median household income in the Village of Medina from 2009 to 2013 is $40,014 for 2,409 households. The Census Bureau reports 20.9 percent of those are in poverty.
Countywide, the data is better. The median household income is $48,502. Of the 15,725 households, 13.4 percent are in poverty.
The poorer people now tend to live in the village, and they pay the bigger tax bill – a combined $54 per $1,000 of assessed property, one of the highest rates in the state.
Move outside the village lines and people can lop about $12 off that tax rate. On a $100,000 house you save about $1,200. That is a tough disincentive for the village to overcome.
The discrepancy has driven out investment and residents. Many of the businesses – manufacturers and retail – will set up just outside the village lines where there is close access to the population but a much smaller tax bill. Those businesses also can tap into village water and sewer (at a slightly higher rate). If they have a fire or police emergency, Medina will be quickly on the scene.
A community in decline
Medina’s downtown has seen a rebirth in businesses and events, including the Parade of Lights. But the neighborhoods are struggling.
The assessments in Medina, for the houses especially, have been falling. Overall, the village tax base was $156.0 million in 2005. Almost a decade later in 2014 it was at $166.3 million. That includes $4.1 million for Orchard Manor, which came on the tax rolls for the first time in 2013. That is a 6.6 percent growth over nearly a decade, which doesn’t it keep up with inflation.
If you take off the Orchard Manor assessment, the village’s taxable value has fallen from $166.1 million in 2007 to $162.2 million in 2014.
Go outside the village line in Shelby and Ridgeway, and the home and land values saw significant increases. The outside-village land in Shelby grew from $86.5 million in 2005 to $108.3 million in 2014. In Ridgeway, the outside-village land increased from $102.5 million in 2005 to $128.2 million in 2014, according to data from the Orleans County Real Property Tax Service.
Shelby grew 25.2 percent outside the village and Ridgeway jumped 25.1 percent during the nine years.
These numbers should sound an alarm for the village. Orleans Hub has written extensively about the difficult position the local villages are in. Many people tell me I’m too “Pro Dissolution.”
I live in the Village of Albion. I want to see the villages of Holley, Lyndonville, Medina and Albion all be vibrant communities today.
But I recognize there is a major problem here. I hear the stories first-hand about people moving out, or staying and being crushed by their taxes. Many more people want to move out but they can’t sell their house, or they are offered a fraction of what they paid for it – with that sale price from 15 to 20 years ago.
The marketing and public relations specialists hired to defeat dissolution have used images of Medina that show a vibrant downtown and charming scenes along the Erie Canal.
Thankfully, some of that still exists. But the Medina story includes neighborhoods in decline, houses abandoned or in neglect. An anonymous donor has provided $400,000 in matching funds to get houses painted and windows repaired the past two years. That has helped the community look more appealing, but this village is clearly suffering.
These boarded-up houses at 613-615 and 617 Genesee St. were torn down in November 2013. They depressed the neighborhood. The village would like to take down more houses, but they are costly projects.
When I talk with local officials at the village, town, county and state levels, I often tell them they shouldn’t just judge Medina on the downtown. Look at the whole community, and look at the numbers.
And face the prospect that it could get worse.
The village gets very little in sales tax revenue
The village needs money to tackle its problems and to lower its taxes. I’ve advocated that the county share more of the local sales tax. Our county gets about $15 million a year in the sales tax, mainly from retail establishments in the villages or close to the village lines.
But only about $400,000 of the total, less than 3 percent, is redirected to the villages. The county shares $1,366,671 of the $15 million with the 10 towns and four villages. That share has been frozen since 2001. That year the county took in about $10 million in sales tax. It has increased by 50 percent or $5 million since then, and all of that increase has stayed with the county government.
The county leaders say they are burdened with Medicaid, state mandates and community college charge backs. When pressed on the issue, the county officials say they don’t have to share any sales tax with the towns of villages. Some counties don’t share sales tax, including Wyoming County. However that county runs the local hospital and nursing home.
In Orleans, the county is far less burdened with services. Much of the critical work is done at the town and village level, yet they get very little of the sales tax money.
Genesee County shares 50 percent of the sales tax with its towns, villages and the City of Batavia. Those communities have much smaller tax rates than in Orleans. Consider the Village of Oakfield, population 1,813. It will get about $300,000 in sales tax from Genesee in 2014. Medina, population 6,065, will receive $159,586.
There doesn’t seem to be any willingness from Orleans County to give more to the villages or towns. Keep in mind, Holley, Albion and Medina all have police departments that allow the county to run a smaller Sheriff’s Department, saving county taxpayers from an increase in costs with more deputies. It would make sense to direct more sales tax to the villages to help pay for the police protection.
The ethanol plant tax windfall – for everyone except the village
Western New York Energy opened in late 2007, producing about 55 million gallons of ethanol a year from a site at the corner of Bates Road and Route 31A.
The company has been a goldmine of new tax revenue for the governments in the Medina area, except for the village. The plant is on the east side of Bates Road – not the west side. Same thing with Brunner and that puts the companies just outside the village limits.
Brunner has grown in the Medina community, putting on additions at its site at the corner of Bates Road and Route 31. The company is on the east side of Bates Road, just outside the village line, which means the village doesn’t get any tax revenue from Brunner.
The ethanol plant pays out more than $1.2 million to local governments each year. (23 percent of that or $271,319 is being held in a stabilization fund to help provide a cushion when the 10-year Empire Zone benefits expire. After that, WNY Energy is expected to pay a smaller tax bill.)
The past few years have been a bonanza for several taxing entities with the ethanol plant. Medina Central School has received $535,623 annually from Western New York Energy, with Orleans County getting $232,310, the Town of Shelby $140,391, and Lee-Whedon Memorial Library $40,882. The Town of Ridgeway even gets $4.57.
The Village of Medina, the one with the ladder fire truck and the police close by, gets nothing.
Brunner has expanded several times on the east side of Bates Road. It’s been a big tax generator for the Town of Ridgeway, the school district and county. But the village gets nothing.
Since the village Fire Department took over as primary ambulance provider for western Orleans in 2006, it has tried to get a $10,000 contribution from Shelby and Ridgeway. They have paid nothing.
Many of the Village Board members who have wrestled with these issues for years are frustrated and angry about the lack of funds trickling into the village coffers. The Orleans Economic Development Agency has pushed to get the village some revenue from these businesses that use village services but are just across the village lines.
The two towns, the county and the school district all agreed to share some of the funds in the future. That deal was struck about three years ago. It hasn’t resulted in any money for the village yet, but it could with the Keppeler site on Route 31A and other projects near the village, if the companies hook into village water and sewer. That provides a window of hope if you’re a village taxpayer.
Village employees are paid a lot
Don Earle, the Seneca Falls town supervisor, talked about his community’s experience with dissolution when he visited Medina on Friday. Earle said the anticipated savings with dissolution were actually much more than advertised.
That was partly because village employees who shifted to the town payroll were paid less. They kept their jobs, but they made less money, which eased some of the pain for taxpayers.
I don’t begrudge anyone a good salary. I wish we had more people making a good dollar around here. It would help the local economy, help the churches, help people afford some of the maintenance projects in these old mansions around here.
But I think the village workers are paid too much in a poor community with such high taxes.
The Empire Center lists the salaries for every state, county, town, village and school district employee. I’m not going to list these salaries, but Medina in 2013 had one employee over $80,000, nine in the $70s, six in the $60s, and 16 in the $50s. I can see why the union and employees have been so active in trying to defeat dissolution.
In 2013, 48 people on the village payroll were paid $2,358,819.
Dissolution would help, but it’s not enough
Village residents can knock about $6 per $1,000 of assessed property off that staggering tax bill if the village dissolves. For a $70,000 house that would be $420 less in taxes.
That may sound like a lot, but even with dissolution the rate would be $48. That is still among the highest in the region and still puts the community at a competitive disadvantage in attracting businesses and residents.
OneMedina wants to dissolve the village and merge towns of Shelby and Ridgeway. A town merger would bring an additional $447,000 in state aid each year. That end result, which would be years in the making, could make the community a little closer to average for tax rate.
I give Medina Mayor Andrew Meier and the OneMedina members credit for forcing this issue. They knew it wouldn’t win them a popularity contest.
Many people have misgivings about the state incentives. I’d like Gov. Cuomo or Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul to stand on Main Street and assure the community the state incentive money will be there for years and years to come.
And I’d like to see them increase the incentive, even if they raised it from 15 to 20 percent. That would be another $180,000 with the village dissolution.
Dissolution Plan doesn’t identify much in efficiency savings
When the Dissolution Committee started meeting to hash out a dissolution plan, I was expecting far more than the $277,000 in operational efficiencies. That is less than 3 percent of the budgets of the two towns and village.
The savings should stand on their own, outside of the state aid, if the community is going to realize a more efficient government. We found out the local governments are already lean. There aren’t extra people on the payroll.
How would towns treat village if dissolution goes down
My big fear with the vote on Tuesday is it will be rejected and the towns, county and state will take that as a sign the village people like things just the way they are.
The county won’t give any more sales tax. The towns will feel more empowered to be stingy with village taxpayers, and the state won’t entertain giving more AIM funding.
The village will continue in its downward spiral. (It wouldn’t get another chance for a dissolution vote for four years.)
Better scenarios?
The village’s total tax levy is $2,738,602 in 2014-15. How could that be reduced if the village stays intact?
Here are some scenarios for cutting taxes if the village decides against dissolution:
The county either offers to take over policing countywide or gives Medina $500,000 more in sales tax (about half of the village police budget). Maybe the county agrees to start smaller, directing $150,000 to help support the Medina police. That would be 1 percent of the sales tax. It should send a similar amount to Albion for its police department and maybe a third of that to help sustain the Holley police.
If the county won’t budge, the villages should consider eliminating their police departments and the community should insist the county step up with more deputies.
The towns of Shelby and Ridgeway each agree to pay at least $25,000 towards the Fire Department ambulance service. The towns follow through with promises of shared services and help plow village streets and better fund the parks program.
Our local state legislators make more state aid for villages their top priority in Albany. They convince the governor and the State Legislature that villages are like mini cities, providing an array of services but facing aging infrastructure, decaying housing stock and a host of other challenges.
The state sees the light and agrees to $100 per capita for villagers, which would be $190 million out of the state budget. That would be about $600,000 more for Medina.
The Keppeler site in Shelby near the village attracts several tenants and they pay a lot in taxes, with the village getting a big chunk of those funds. The EDA also works with the communities to rewrite tax-sharing deals for the ethanol plant, Brunner and others just across the village line, giving Medina a cut of the revenue.
Village employees step forward and offer to take a 5 percent pay cut. That alone will save about $120,000.
The towns and village work together on several community development projects, which could include better gateway entrances to the community, a trail project by Glenwood Lake and other projects that draw more residents to the community and improve the quality of life for those who already live in Medina.
Are any of these scenarios plausible? That will be something for village voters to consider on Tuesday. Will Medina have strong partners in the future at the town, county and state level?
If I was a Medina villager, I would give it one more try. If there are no signs of progress, dissolution would be an issue again in four years.
But if village residents vote on Tuesday to dissolve the village, I wouldn’t blame them.
When people try to justify dissolution, they often say that talks were getting nowhere. Mayor Meier called it a brick wall he was up against. But when I analyze that wall, I can’t help but ask: Who laid the bricks?
Shared services discussions started and then fell apart a couple of years ago. Happily, talks resumed. There were cautious overtures made between individuals on all three sides.
But then, right as things were getting going, the mayor made the choice to seek a grant for a dissolution study. This was after that same agency (CGR) he tasked with developing a feasibility study which had already recommended shared services as a better option for Medina.
Most recently, even when the community made it clear they were ambivalent at best regarding the prospect of dissolution, and village trustees insisted the mayor renew shared services talks with Shelby and Ridgeway, Mayor Meier worked alongside the group One Medina to collect signatures to force the vote for dissolution. I know he felt strongly about it. And I know he truly loves Medina, his home.
Yet, by primarily focusing on dissolution efforts, in the midst of shared services talks, feelings of disbelief, mistrust, and betrayal developed amongst both town boards. Never were shared services, and the elimination of duplicated services, truly explored as extensively as they should have been.
Seeking dissolution smack dab in the middle of shared services talks is like asking your cousins to help you fix up the family homestead grandpa left everyone, and then, right when everyone’s set aside the time, gotten their tools ready and rolled up their sleeves, your cousin Jeb shows up with a bulldozer. Just in case.
It begs the question: Why? Maybe, just maybe, dissolution is being sought so aggressively because it means dissolving existing contracts between the village and its workforce. Maybe those employees will make out fine, maybe not. I doubt they’ll be just fine. The very community Medina was asked to compare itself to, Seneca Falls, admitted that their police officers faced a $2/hour wage cut after they dissolved.
It doesn’t sound that bad until you do the math: working a regular 40-hour week, that’s $80 a week. That’s a major portion of the week’s grocery bill. We’re not talking chump change. We’re talking about a living expense. We’re talking about upwards of $4,000 in a year.
Proponents of dissolution talk often about how the village will keep its services and village employees will keep their jobs. What they’re much less forthcoming about is in terms of what happens to the public employees’ contracts. And that’s just not right. Dissolution will wreak havoc in the lives of village employees, change the quality of services and throw this entire community in to a tailspin, with Ridgeway and Shelby being left to pick up the pieces.
If the village thinks there are employees who make too much or who need to make concessions, there’s a way to deal with thatthe bargaining table.
I saw my father-in-law go through this same scenario after he retired from Harrison Radiator. Two years into his retirement, they jerked the rug out from under him and said, “Oh hey, sorry about that. Your contract doesn’t exist anymore.” Gone was half his pension and gone was more than half of his health insurance benefits. Anyone who knows people in the area that went through this know what I’m talking about. It’s criminal. To see a similar situation brewing on Medina’s own horizon is horrifying. And to see it possibly happen to the people who risk their lives for us? Even worse.
So what to do? It seems as though everyone is being told there are only two solutions: Dissolve, or Be Crushed (by overwhelming taxation and duplication of services). But this notion that there is only one solution is not true. There are at least two other options.
One, the three sides need to get back to the work already begun on shared services talks. If voters (from any of the three entities) feel that there is stonewalling or an unwillingness to cooperate from any elected official then that is the time to exercise your voting rights and your right to run for office.
And two, the towns and the village need to press the state to be more forthcoming with the monies that are rightfully ours. (Click here to see “State shortchanges villages with aid, leading to their demise” and Click here to see “Here’s a resolution that every elected official in Orleans should support.”
Both ideas are a place to begin. I hope that on Tuesday, the villagers of Medina vote No on dissolution, and give shared services and cooperation a real chance.
On Wednesday, I hope all of us can begin anew: the Village of Medina, the Town of Ridgeway, and the Town of Shelby, dedicated as one to autonomy, to representation, and to cooperation.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 January 2015 at 12:00 am
‘What we would have changed? We would have done it sooner’
Photos by Tom Rivers – Don Earle, town supervisor of Seneca Falls, said dissolution has been a positive for that community. He addressed about 200 people today during a discussion at Medina Theatre.
MEDINA – On Jan. 1, 2012, the Village of Seneca Falls was no more. It dissolved.
Nervous residents who feared the change still had their garbage picked up, water came out of the tap, and police officers and firefighters responded to calls.
“It was just like the year 2000 with the Y2K, remember that?” Seneca Falls Town Supervisor Don Earle told about 200 people in Medina tonight. “Nothing happened.”
Earle was invited to Medina by Mayor Andrew Meier to share Seneca Falls’ experience with dissolution. Seneca Falls is similar in size to Medina, with 6,681 residents compared to about 6,065 in Medina.
Both communities have a strong historical fabric and treasured business districts.
Earle said the Village of Seneca Falls was being crippled with an astronomical tax rate that was chasing out residents. The village officials put off needed maintenance and infrastructure upgrades because of the rising tax burden, Earle said.
Residents still worried about losing the village and the dissolution vote barely passed in Seneca Falls with a 1,198-1,112 vote on March 16, 2010.
A dissolved village isn’t a defeated community. Don Earle said Seneca Falls is a much more vibrant community post-dissolution.
A stronger community has emerged, with dramatically lower taxes for the former village residents, a manageable increase for residents outside the town, and improved overall services in Seneca Falls, Earle told a crowd at Medina Theatre.
He remembers the worry with the changeover, that the community somehow would by stymied with critical services no longer provided.
It was a challenge transitioning the village services to the town, but Earle said he and most residents in Seneca Falls only have one regret in the process.
“What we would have changed?” Earle said. “We would have done it sooner.”
Village residents have seen their tax rate fall from about $17 to about $6 per $1,000 of assessed property with dissolution. The outside village residents were paying $1.86 per $1,000. Now they pay about $5 per $1,000 of assessed property (not including school and county taxes).
Although they pay more in town taxes, Earle said the outside-village residents now have an equal voice in what happens in the former village area.
Most village employees did not lose their jobs. They became town employees, although they were paid at a lower rate. Earle said the village had a higher pay structure than in town.
Seneca Falls formed a town-wide police force and added three officers. Shelby Town Councilman Steve Seitz reiterated his concern that a dissolution plan for Medina calls for adding one full-time police officer despite expanding the coverage area from 3 to 98 square miles.
Steve Seitz asks Don Earle about police services in Seneca Falls.
Seitz doesn’t think the Medina plan is realistic. It identifies $277,000 in operational savings and $541,000 in additional state aid for an overall $818,000 benefit in reduced taxes.
The town leaders also don’t trust the state to come through consistently with the $541,000 in aid for the Medina community.
Earle noted that Seneca Falls has received its promised state aid of $535,000 each of the past three years.
“You can never, ever get a guarantee from the State of New York,” Earle said. “All I can say is we’ve gotten it for three years and there is no indication it will be cut.”
Shelby and Ridgeway town officials have said the $277,000 is too little for combined budgets of about $11 million. That’s less than 3 percent in savings.
In Seneca Falls, the community found more savings than what was projected in the plan. The town found it could streamline operations and was able to reduce a few positions, Earle said.
The Seneca Falls example isn’t the best comparison for the Medina dissolution, said Andina Barone, a public relations consultant for the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby. She noted the Village of Medina is about half in Shelby and half in Ridgeway, making it more challenging for a seamless transition.
Seneca Falls also has a large landfill and revenue from that helps drive down taxes in that community, Barone said.
Earle said villagers in Seneca Falls didn’t get a break in their village taxes from the landfill. Once the village dissolved, they were better able to receive the financial benefit of the landfill, he said.
Even without that landfill money, the village tax rate would have dropped from $16.93 to $9.18 per $1,000, he said.
Medina resident Dick Berry said the towns should provide more services to village residents, who are already paying $1.1 million in taxes to the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway.
Seneca Falls hasn’t lost its heritage because of the dissolution, Earle said. He noted Old Forge also hasn’t lost its identity, even though that Adirondacks community dissolved in the 1930s and now a hamlet in the Town of Webb.
Seneca Falls, especially the villagers, are experiencing immediate tax savings with dissolution. The bigger benefits will come in the years ahead, Earle said.
“The long-term benefits are going to be tremendous,” he said. “You’re operating as one. You’re not competing against each other.”
Earle was asked about shared services talks between the village and town in Seneca Falls. It was a fruitless and frustrating exercise that wasn’t going anywhere.
“People don’t want to give up power,” Earle said. “When they don’t want to give up power, shared services really don’t work.”
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier said shared services haven’t resulted in much progress for nearly three years. He and other village residents noted the village pays $1.1 million in taxes to Ridgeway and Shelby, without getting anywhere close to $1.1 million in services.
Village Trustee Marguerite Sherman said she is optimistic the village and two towns can achieve significant savings with shared services. The two towns are serious in wanting to plow village streets and provide other highway services, which would be a big savings for Medina, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Sherman said.
She wants the community to give shared services more time before voting for dissolution.
Shelby Volunteer Fire Company President Gary Lamar states his support for the Medina Fire Department, saying the group provides critical fire and ambulance services in western Orleans County.
Earle said one of the biggest challenges with dissolution was the aging village infrastructure and equipment. The village didn’t have the capital to keep up with roads, sewers, waterlines, 10-wheel trucks and other big ticket items, he said.
The town has made an inventory of infrastructure and equipment and is working to establish a schedule for upgrades.
A dissolution committee in Medina has suggested creating special taxing districts for village debt, a fire district, a town-wide police force for the two towns, an ambulance corporation that would contract with the fire district to continue the existing service, and an LDC (local development corporation) for water and sewer.
Earle said he didn’t like the idea of an LDC, of creating that layer of government.
The other taxing districts aren’t outside the norm in local government, Meier said. He noted the towns using special districts for their numerous water districts, as well as lighting and fire services.
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier
Medina residents will vote on dissolution from noon to 9 p.m. on Tuesday at the Senior Center. Meier said he hopes it’s a first step to reducing government layers and driving down taxes in the community. He would like to then see the two towns work towards a merger.
The village is currently solvent and paying its bills, Meier said in response to a question.
However, the taxes are much higher within village borders, compared to residents who live outside village lines in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway.
“The problem with the village, by the mere virtue of its existence, is we’re setting our residents up for double taxation,” Meier said. “That dramatically increases taxes for village residents.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 January 2015 at 12:00 am
‘Dissolution has divided friends, neighbors and families. This cannot go on.’ – Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli
Photos by Tom Rivers – Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper, right, responds to a question about village dissolution. He is joined by Councilman Dale Stalker during a meeting at the Medina High School Auditorium attended by more than 300 people.
MEDINA – A big crowd of about 300 people attended a public meeting by the Town Boards in Shelby and Ridgeway on Wednesday night. The town officials stated their strong opposition to the dissolution of the Village of Medina.
Villagers shouldn’t expect the towns to pick up the level of services currently provided in the village, officials from both towns said.
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier and other supporters of the dissolution plan see it as a restructuring of services that eases the tax burden on village residents, shifts some costs to the towns and brings in much-needed state aid.
But Jeff Toussaint, Ridgeway town councilman, called it a divisive effort that will only push costs onto the towns. He said the plan has residents outside the village fretting about “unbearable tax hikes.”
“The dissolution plan promoted by One Medina will not unite Medina but ruin it,” Toussaint said.
Ridgeway Town Board members David Stalker, right, and Paul Blajszczak both voiced their opposition to village dissolution. Stalker lives in the village and he said he enjoys the heightened services which come at a higher cost.
Village residents will vote on dissolution from noon to 9 p.m. on Jan. 20 at the Senior Center.
Residents won’t be voting on a specific dissolution plan. They will decide whether or not the village government will continue.
Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper and Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli both said the dissolution plan doesn’t save nearly enough money to justify eliminating the village government and creating new layers of government bureaucracy, including special districts, a local development corporation and additional burdens on the two towns.
The plan identifies $277,000 in cost savings and $541,000 in additional state aid for $818,000 in overall benefit. (Click here to see the dissolution plan.)
But with combined budgets of more than $10 million, the $277,000 was called a small amount in operational savings.
“I don’t trust the math,” Draper said. “It’s very clear these are all estimates.”
Draper said he is dubious there would be any savings at all because the plan only calls for adding one full-time position to the police department, which would go from covering the village to both towns, or from 3 square miles to 98. If four police officers were needed that would offset the $277,000 in identified cost savings.
Gary Lamar, president of the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company, said the Medina Fire Department is critical to ambulance and fire service for Western Orleans County. He doesn’t want to see the Medina Fire Department disrupted through dissolution.
The town officials said they want to recommit to shared service discussions. Draper said the communities have established a record of cooperation before through courts and assessing services. He sees benefits to the village if the towns took over all plowing and street maintenance. However, if villagers want sidewalk plowing, they could pay for that and other “enhanced services,” Draper said.
The Shelby town supervisor sees the two towns providing “baseline services,” with village residents paying for additional services such as police.
Meier has said shared services don’t do enough to ease the significant tax strain on village residents. Villagers pay a combined tax rate of $54 per $1,000 of assessed property. Moving outside the village can knock about $12 off that combined tax rate, a significant disparity and major disincentive to invest in the village, the mayor has said.
The village tax rate would drop about $6, according to the dissolution plan. Ridgeway residents outside the village in 2013 paid a $6.71 rate for town, lighting and fire protection. That would rise 46 percent to $9.83 if the village dissolves and services are picked up according to the plan.
Shelby residents would see a 10 percent increase with dissolution with the 2013 rate for outside-village residents going from $8.36 per $1,000 of assessed property to $9.17. That would raise taxes for a $70,000 home from $585 to $642.
But the town officials don’t buy the numbers, particularly with the costs for police.
Paul Hendel served as moderator for the meeting at Medina High School.
Shelby Town Councilman Steve Seitz said the plan wasn’t well thought out and didn’t include input from the town officials. He told the village officials they shouldn’t quit on the village. He urged them to come back to the table and find more ways to share services and cooperate.
Ridgeway Town Councilman Paul Blajszczak described the dissolution plan as “radical and premature.”
He urged village residents “to elect candidates interested in productive collaboration.”
The town officials were asked to be specific in how the taxes could be cut for village residents. Shared services was a refrain among the two towns.
Napoli, the Ridgeway supervisor, said the dissolution push has stirred the passions of the community – for the wrong reasons.
“Dissolution has divided friends, neighbors and families,” Napoli said. “This cannot go on.”
Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli speaks against dissolution, saying the community should preserve the village. Jeff Toussaint is at right.
Ed Weider is one the proponents of “One Medina,” an effort that seeks to dissolve the village and merge the two towns. He spoke after several residents and town officials spoke about the beautiful downtown and historic flavor of the community.
Weider said there is another part of Medina, and it is growing: decay. He travels the village in a motorized wheelchair. He sees lots of vacant houses and properties being neglected.
Dissolving the village and merging the towns would lower government costs and bring in much needed state aid, helping to pay for services and lower residents’ tax bills, Weider said.
“i don’t think we can afford to maintain the status quo,” Weider said.
Weider praised the two town boards for their presentation on Wednesday night. The boards have proven they work well together and are willing to face community challenges. Weider urged them to support the village dissolution, to bring a unified and streamlined voice to local government.
Ed Weider addresses the two town boards before about 300 people on Wednesday night. Owen Toale is at right, holding the microphone for Weider.
The town officials were asked if they had been approached about a merger of the two towns. They said they hadn’t. Blajszczak said they would have to consider the issue if there was a citizen petition.
But he doubted there would be significant savings because there would still be the same amount of work with water, sewer, street maintenance and plowing, and other services.
“Would a merger save money?” Blajszczak said. “That’s an assumption.”
Some of the residents asked the town officials what the village residents get for the $1.1 million villagers pay to the two towns annually. Draper noted assessing and court for sure.
“The amount of service from the town is minimal at best,” resident Dick Berry responded to Draper.
Berry said he wished more of his local taxes could be directed to the village, which is doing the bulk of the work.
“There has to be a better way,” Berry said.
The town officials were also urged to press for more sales tax revenue from the county and to demand more municipal state aid from New York.
Proponents of dissolution will have a public meeting on Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Medina Theatre. That meeting will include Don Earle, Seneca Falls town supervisor. He will share his community’s experience with dissolution, discussing impacts on taxes and services, and the community’s reaction to the changes.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 January 2015 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – Regardless of the dissolution vote on Jan. 20, there will be another village election in the spring with two trustee positions on the ballot.
The village election usually falls the third Tuesday of March, but this year that lands on St. Patrick’s Day. Because of that, the Village Board voted to move the election a day later to March 18, a Wednesday.
Trustees Mark Kruzynski and Mark Irwin both have their positions up for election.
Petitions are currently available at the village office. Petitions can be turned in to the village clerk between Feb. 3 and Feb. 10.
Even if dissolution is approved on Jan. 20, the village government will remain for an estimated two years to allow for a transition.
Besides setting the date for the next village election for March 18, the board on Monday also hired a new police officer. Edwin Bower comes from the Holley Police Department. He graduated from the Rural Police Training Academy last March. He will start at Medina with a salary at $44,712.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 January 2015 at 12:00 am
District eyes offering the minimum tax break
Photos by Tom Rivers – Carl Boyle of Lyndonville tells Medina Central School Superintendent Jeff Evoy (in back) that the district should support a tax exemption for veterans. Boyle served during the Cold War and he said the tax exemption doesn’t include Cold War veterans.
MEDINA – The Board of Education hasn’t made a final decision, but the group is leaning towards offering about 500 veterans in the school district a discount in their school taxes, a move that will cause a tax increase for nonveterans.
“It’s a difficult decision in light of the economy and the poverty in our county, and in light of the debt we owe our veterans,” said Chris Keller, president of the Medina BOE.
The Board of Education discussed offering the exemption to veterans during Tuesday’s board meeting. Board members said they don’t want to put undue financial stress on nonveterans.
With that in mind, the board is considering offering the minimum tax exemption to veterans. If it approved, nonveterans would pay $32 more in taxes for a property assessed at $100,000, school superintendent Jeff Evoy said.
Veterans who served in wartime (World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Persian Gulf Conflict since Aug. 2, 1990) would get $6,000 off their assessments. That would save eligible veterans about $140 each. (The district’s tax rate is $23.31 per $1,000 of assessed property. Multiply $23.31 by 6 to determine the dollars saved through the exemption.)
The state in December 2013 voted to allow school districts the option of giving the exemption. The county, all 10 towns and three villages already had been offering it to veterans. (Only the Village of Albion doesn’t, according to the county Office of Real Property Tax Services. Updated 10:30 a.m.: The Village of Albion offers the exemption to veterans in World War I, WWII, and the Korean War.)
Board of Education President Chris Keller said the district wants to offer the exemption for veterans, but school officials don’t want to shift too much tax burden on other residents.
Medina is the first school district in the county to take up the issue. Veterans in November approached the Board, asking the district to implement the exemptions.
“It’s not an easy issue, no question about it,” said resident David Barhite. “But we wouldn’t be here without our veterans.”
Barhite said veterans deserve the tax discount. Many of them sacrificed pay and benefits from their jobs to be in the military, he said.
In addition to the $6,000 wartime exemption, veterans who were in a combat zone could have their taxable assessed values dropped by another $4,000. That would save another $93.24.
Veterans who are disabled from their military service could get $20,000 off their assessments, which would save them $466.20, based on the district’s current tax rate.
The state law allows districts to offer double what Medina is considering. The maximum exemption would be $12,000 off for wartime service, $8,000 for combat duty and $40,000 for being disabled.
If Medina offered the maximum exemptions, nonveterans would see their taxes go up $51 for properties assessed at $100,000, according to school officials.
Dave Kusmierczak said veterans could use the exemption, but he would prefer it to be offered through state income taxes and not property taxes.
Maureen Blackburn, former BOE president, said the community has many struggling young families, where $30 to $50 more in taxes is a big deal.
“That might be snow boots,” she said.
Blackburn said she holds veterans “in the highest regard,” but the district needs to consider the impact and tax burden on younger families, who live in a much different and more difficult economy these days. Many of the families are working double jobs and still not making ends meet, Blackburn said.
“I would like our young families to have a place at the table when you’re considering your decision,” she said.
Nelda Toussaint also spoke against the exemption, saying it wasn’t fair to other residents who would see a shift in their taxes. Another resident, Tim Elliott, said he thinks many residents are struggling to get by, and the added taxes would be difficult for them to pay.
The New York State School Boards Association opposes the “alternative veterans exemption” because it would require other local taxpayers to make up the difference. The association would prefer to see the state provide the exemption through state income taxes.
“The law as is presents school boards with a dilemma,” NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer said in a statement last February. “If they adopt the exemption, that would increase taxes for other taxpayers in their district. If they do not adopt the exemption, they could be viewed as not being supportive of veterans.”
Local veteran Dave Kusmierczak said veterans could use a break in their taxes. The exemption through property taxes not only shifts some of the tax load to nonveterans, but it also excludes many veterans, Kusmierczak said. If they don’t own property, they won’t get an exemption. He would like to see the benefit offered through income taxes so more veterans would be able to use it.
Carl Boyle served in the Cold War, but the state doesn’t include that as wartime service. He said the proposal discriminates against veterans in the Cold War.
Carl Boyle served overseas in Germany during the Cold War. He isn’t eligible for the wartime exemption because Cold War veterans weren’t included.
Boyle said he slept for months outside in the cold during his service, and tensions were high with the Russians.
“It was a war of nerves,” Boyle told the Board of Education. “It took a toll on me and several other thousand Cold War veterans. The Cold War vet is being crapped on. That isn’t fair. That’s discrimination.”
Medina has 217 veterans eligible for the wartime exemption and 260 more eligible for service in a combat zone. Of those two groups, 95 are rated as disabled.
BOE President Chris Keller took a poll of board members on Tuesday, to see where they stand at this point. Several said they were in favor of offering the minimum exemption. But the board wants more time to consider the issue and weigh the impacts.
Offering the exemption would also reduce the district’s STAR funds from the state by $4,524, with nonveterans to make up that difference, Evoy said.
The district will have another public hearing at 6 p.m. on Feb. 10 for the minimum exemption levels. The board could vote on the issue at that meeting. In order for the exemption to apply to the 2015-16 school taxes, the board needs to adopt the exemption by March 1.
BOE member John McCarthy said the district is in a difficult position. He said the state allowed the exemption, but passed the decision making and impact to the local level.
“It will pit neighbor versus neighbor, and school district versus school district,” McCarthy said.
