|
LORETTA HOFFMAN
While campaigning door-to-door it has become clear that high taxes and dangerous roads are of primary concern to residents, followed closely by a lack of services. While my opponent claims she has kept keep taxes low and services high, residents question why we have no affordable and reliable high-speed Internet access or cell phone service and why Taghkanic is the only town without a park or community center. Taxpayers want to know why town roads are not properly maintained and why our modest little Town Hall has been neglected for so long it now stands on the verge of being condemned.
My opponent says Taghkanic is a “wonderful place to raise a family and run a business.” Taghkanic is certainly a beautiful town with lots of rural character and magnificent views. The citizens I have spoken with are good-hearted, hardworking people, and we all love our town, but a “wonderful” place to live and run a business? Platitudes are nice, but they don’t feed the bulldog. Seven zip codes, three school districts, and no business or community center mean that many families in Taghkanic have no way to meet and are consequently left isolated from one another.
|
|
|
Taxpayers tell me they aren’t doing any work on their homes because of the fear their assessments will be raised, and they can’t afford higher taxes. As a business owner in town, I’ll attest to the fact that I operate at a serious economic disadvantage without high-speed Internet access. The concerned parents of a five-year-old, who must ride one hour each way to and from school to attend Kindergarten, did not use the word wonderful either. It’s time we stop putting off until tomorrow what we should have done yesterday. Years of neglect and lack of planning combined with just plain inaction have taken their toll.
I believe that with careful planning and working in cooperation, we can get our town back on track without raising taxes or assessments to pay for it. In this current economic climate, it will be especially critical to take stock, cut waste, and utilize what we have. We’ll need to take full advantage of any available grants to help us fund repairing our crumbling infrastructure and to support our town’s needs.
If given the honor of representing Taghkanic on the county level, I will keep our residents informed about issues and seek your input so that I can take back to the county our collective ideas and opinions on matters we ultimately all pay for and live with. I will fight for affordable and reliable high-speed Internet access in every home and business in Columbia County because our economic future depends on it. Taxes are a major concern to everyone and the bulk of our tax burden is paid to the county. We need the Board of Supervisors to find creative solutions to raise revenues. It is the only way to prevent higher taxes or the cutting of services. I believe one solution is to improve our tourism efforts. Tourism not only brings in needed sales tax revenues, it helps to support our small and medium businesses that in return employ 80 percent of our work force.
In the end, we’re in this together. Its people that make the hard times bearable and the good times sweeter. Our best asset is our residents, and it will take a group effort to get our town moving forward again. I am confident that together we can find viable solutions to the challenges we face. My opponent wants you to re-elect her based on her decades of experience, but what has she accomplished? As one woman said to me, “Why would I trust the people who got us to this point to fix it?” She’s right, we can’t, and that’s why I’m running for Town Supervisor.
Loretta Hoffman's website: nicelittletown.com
|
