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Parishville town supervisor responds to charges by opponent

Posted 10/24/14

PARISHVILE -- The two candidates for Parishville town supervisor are at odds over interpretations of the tentative budget for 2015, among other things. Democrat Cassie Hayes, a Democrat, is running …

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Parishville town supervisor responds to charges by opponent

Posted

PARISHVILE -- The two candidates for Parishville town supervisor are at odds over interpretations of the tentative budget for 2015, among other things.

Democrat Cassie Hayes, a Democrat, is running to unseat Republican Rodney Votra, a town councilor who was appointed to the top town spot after the previous supervisor resigned.

In a campaign statement, Hayes accused Votra of supporting irresponsible provisions in the budget proposal and of distorting facts. Votra says her claims are “grossly exaggerated.”

“This article clearly demonstrates that Cassie Hayes has absolutely no experience with Budgeting and no knowledge of the seat she seeks to assume at the November 4, 2014 vote,” Votra said.

Hayes challenges Votra on a statement she says he made that the town is saving $50,000 in wages and benefits by doing away with the town bookkeeper position. “This is not accurate,” Hayes said. “The town board eliminated the bookkeeper position, who was an employee of the town for over 13 years,” while the budget allows for $25,000 a year to hire an accounting firm to do the work.

She also says that Votra’s claimed 1.35 percent increase in the budget does not reflect the expenses of the fire district, which she says would add about $150,000 to the total.

Votra says the fire district is separate from the town.

“It is its own entity within the Town, they establish their own budget and have a public vote regarding such,” Votra said. “The Town Board has no input in this matter; the taxpayers of the community have the same input with the Fire District as they do the Town Board.

As for the savings for a bookkeeper, Votra says the accounting firm of Reece & Robinson would be handling payroll for $1,400 or $16,800 a year, while other town employees will be taking on the rest of the former bookkeeper’s duties.

Hayes is blaming Votra for a shrinking reserve fund:

“Last year, Rodney Votra used over $74,000 of contingency fund money. Our town transfer station loses over $8,000 annually with no solution in sight. Salt is going up over 30% next year to an increase of $16.00 a ton. For most towns this is an increase of $100,00 or more. The tentative budget gives no ‘cushion’ for error or emergencies,” Hayes wrote.

Votra counters by saying that he was not the supervisor, the chief budget officer for the town, last year, and that no one on the board has control over salt prices.

“As for our transfer station,” Votra said, “it lost $0 dollars last year, or ever for that matter. What Mrs. Hayes fails to realize is the transfer station is taxpayer subsidized. We either increase taxes to cover the entire cost of the transfer station or we accommodate our taxpayers requiring them to only pay for the amount of trash they generate individually subsidizing the remainder. The taxpayers choose to have a transfer station rather than taking their trash out of Town or having to pay for an independent hauler to take it for them.”

Hayes also claims Votra has made it to only half of the town board meetings in the last year and a half.

“I like to think that missing 9 meetings due to my full time job over a 10 year period is not a bad record,” Votra said. “Being a Town Board member is a part time position that pays a small stipend. Our Board members deserve respect for the amount of time they devote to their Town, mostly hours the average person does not see. The work they do is not limited to a once a month meeting.”

Votra also accuses Hayes of trying to ply potential voters with food:

“Buying Pizza for the Fire Department at their regular meeting or supplying the Highway Department with doughnuts in an effort to secure votes only tests the intelligence of the residents of our community. You may better have spent your time gathering accurate information for yourself and the benefit of the taxpayers you wish to represent,” Votra said.