Final Statement of Elise Mottel, Deputy Supervisor, Democratic candidate for town board

Monday, November 7, 2011
by Elise Mottel

Dear New Castle Residents:

Tuesday, November 8 will mark the end of a vigorous and hard fought campaign.  A contested election is the sign of a healthy democracy, and my colleagues and I welcomed the debate.  The posting of letters and positions on the Internet and the debates have made it easier to have an informed electorate.  Thank you for expressing your opinions and giving me the opportunity to share my views.

I am very proud of my efforts leading to the Town receiving and maintaining its Triple A bond rating.  Responsible management and budgeting are the reasons our Town enjoys a Triple A bond rating – New Castle is one of only seven Towns in New York State that can make that claim, and our positive audit reports confirm the Town’s fiscal health. 

It is not surprising that my opponents never mention fiscal responsibility.  That is because the Town Board has successfully managed this issue during one of the worst economic downturns in history.  The Town Board’s 2012 tentative budget falls below the State mandated 2% tax levy cap, and has a tax rate increase of 2.98%, which means a tax increase of $49 for an average New Castle resident for 2012.  This is a remarkable achievement, considering the decline in revenues and increased costs of health insurance, pensions and labor contracts.  And this is an incredible accomplishment compared to Somer’s 2012 projected 11% tax increase and Harrison’s 2012 projected 5.4% tax increase, not to mention the intention of our neighbor to the north to override the tax levy cap.

While aggressively cutting expenditures, I have worked hard to protect our investments in our community – to preserve our safety, our clean streets, our natural resources and especially our financial security.

We have been able to do this by being innovative in the ways we reduce expenditures, such as implementing shared services with neighboring municipalities to cut costs and improve efficiencies.  A few examples include the Millwood Water Treatment Plan, the skate board park, and the West End Advance Life Support District.  Additionally, the inter-municipal agreement to share costs on mandated stormwater reduction will save the Town tens of thousand of dollars or more. 

Although the Town Tax represents only 10% of a resident’s property taxes (School tax is 70%), it is important to maintain and increase our commercial tax base.  The Town did just that by preserving the commercial space at Chappaqua Crossing, the largest commercial taxpayer in New Castle.

My work as Chair of the Downtown Steering Committee has resulted in a business occupancy rate to be proud of.  In our incredibly weakened economy, there are only 6 vacancies in 111 storefronts in Chappaqua, and in Millwood only 2 of the 30 storefronts are vacant.  This is an incredible statistic and a direct result of our hard work to improve our downtowns by making them more attractive and more business and shopper friendly.  Improvements in parking, lighting, landscaping, signage and sidewalks have already been implemented, and there is more work to do.  A development plan is underway for Millwood, and our merchants and residents will continue to provide ideas for making Millwood’s business area even more user friendly.

I am not just about what we’ve done.  I am about the future.  There are more things that we can do – and that we have been doing – to help ease the tax burden on our residents.  There are a number of properties in and around our business districts that are suitable for commercial development, and we have been talking with property owners to encourage them to develop these properties.  We have also streamlined our Planning Board process to make it easier and less costly for them to get approval to develop their properties. But we must not sacrifice the essence of our Town just for the sake of commercial development.

We cannot forget New Castle is the town admired for its natural beauty, charm and open spaces. It is a difficult but essential role of our Town Board to preserve the town we’ve chosen by balancing the budget, maintaining services and making sure the our residents don’t have to move because they cannot afford to pay their taxes.  I have done this successfully.  I am proud of my record of service to the Town.  I know that you will be proud to have me as your Town Board representative for the next four years.

My record reflects my dedication to you, the residents of New Castle.  I ask for your continued support on November 8.

Elise K. Mottel

Candidate of Town Board

November 6, 2011