Citizens for the Preservation of Woodbury
Located in Orange County, NY
Letter to the Editor, 09-01-2016
Do we really need a new 9 Million Dollar Municipal Complex? Absolutely Not!
You may or may not be aware that the Town of Woodbury has already passed a Resolution to issue Woodbury Taxpayer Municipal Bonds totaling 8.5 Million ($8,500,000.00) Dollars, and the Village of Woodbury passed a resolution to spend $500,000 Taxpayers Dollars, making a total of 9 Million Dollars for the construction of a new Woodbury Municipal Complex.
Presently the Town of Woodbury has standalone buildings which are one Town Hall/Justice Court, two separate Libraries one of which has a common entrance hall with, the one Senior Center, a separate Police Building, and other town facilities some of which are not presently in play.
In short the Town wants to vacate the Town Hall and Justice Court, Police Building, Senior Center and relocate them into the new municipal complex. The politicians want to expand the one Library located in Highland Mills to take over the Senior Center space which will double the Library size. The existing Police building will become a “No Kill Humane Society for All Animals”, and the existing “Animal Shelter” will be converted into storage for the Building and Grounds Department or another parking lot.
Do we really need a new 9 Million Dollar Municipal Complex? Absolutely Not!
Do we need a New Town Hall and Justice Court? Yes!
The Municipal Complex as proposed will really cost 13.5 Million Dollars. The Politicians didn’t tell you about the 5 Million Dollars Interest that will be paid on the 8.5 Million Dollar Bond money.
They didn’t tell you that the Town’s Taxable property increased 49.5 Million Dollars ($49,500,000) for the 2017 budget year, and will generate additional property tax revenue. However, instead of using this new additional tax money to lower your property taxes, they will use your tax dollars to pay for the new Municipal Complex Bond payments, year after year. Then the politicians tell you that the cost of building the complex to you in tax dollars is insignificant, and you won’t see your property tax increase because of the new complex, I say Hogwash!
The politicians say they will make the existing Police Building into a “No Kill Humane Society for All Animals”, and they don’t tell you the Police Building will need to be renovated, along with the possibility of adding new employees, that will increase the cost to us taxpayers. They also proposed that the Highland Mills Library take over the existing space of the Senior Center, but don’t tell you about the cost of renovations and the possibility of additional employees.
There just seems to be too much of a disruption of our community, when the only need is for the Town of Woodbury to Build a Town Hall/Town Court building, on town owned property. When I was the Town Supervisor on November 5, 2015, I made a proposal to the then Town Board, (3 of which are still Town Board members), to build a 10,000 Square Foot Town Hall/Town Court building including additional parking, to the left of and adjacent to the existing Senior Center. The plan was drawn up by the Town Engineer, which would have allowed the town to also sell the present Town Hall, returning $300,000 to $400,000 in Town Revenue.
It’s time to hit the reset button, and vote no for the 8.5 Million Dollar Bond Referendum this September 20, 2016. All voting will be at the present Town Hall between 6:00 am and 9:00 pm, for all Woodbury Registered Voters.
It’s time to tell the politicians, “to go back” and come up with an alternative plan that does not further financially burden our Woodbury Taxpayers.
Ralph
Caruso,
Former Supervisor, Town of Woodbury and
Chairman of the Citizens for the Preservation of Woodbury.
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e-mail us. Thank you residents of Woodbury.
P.O. Box 211,
Central Valley, NY 10917