Sweeton: Warwick remains ‘the envy of New York State'

Editor’s note: Warwick Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton delivered the following “state of the town” address during the town board’s Jan. 3 reorganizational meeting. 2005 was a year of continued steadiness and prudent fiscal management by Town Government. Our seasoned employees working in well-managed departments met many challenges during the year. January through March brought snow every three to four days but was met by a superb effort from our Department of Public Works. April brought heavy rains, flooding and wash-outs of many roads as well as flooding in the Pine Island black dirt. Once again our DPW and professional police department, in cooperation with our volunteer emergency service personnel, responded to safely restore order and re-open roadways. We owe them all a debt of gratitude. By mid-year we had dried out and opened the doors of our new senior center where our senior citizens can now meet comfortably as they so richly deserve. A dry summer followed by torrential rains threatened our roads again but sturdy spring repairs kept everything in place. The year ended with early December snows that continued to wreck havoc with our snow budget. Day-in and day-out all departments worked hard to provide top notch service with very little increases in their budgets giving taxpayers a great return on their dollar. Water As a town we continued to invest wisely in our infrastructure especially our roads making more repairs and conducting more resurfacing then in years past despite having to repair flood damage as well. We began the initial work necessary for the installation of a second water tank in the Wickham water district and expect it to be on line by June of 2006. We have identified several locations for two new wells for the district which we will complete by the summer of 2006 as well. Under the guidance of Councilman Mickey Shuback and environmental consultants we continue to make yearly upgrades to our other water districts and sewer facilities. Parks Our parks continue to improve under the auspices of Councilman Leonard Debuck and the Parks Department. We upgraded the fencing and improved the baseball fields at Union corners and Pine Island Park, planted many trees at our parks, broke ground on two new playing fields and restored the Union Corners soccer fields that were damaged by severe summer drought. The Greenwood Lake Public Beach Visioning Committee, working with students from N.Y.C. College of Technology presented many wonderful ideas for future development of the newest town park. Councilman James Gerstner, working with a newly hired recreation planner, began the process of creating a recreation plan for our town which will ensure that we invest wisely and where ever possible share facilities with our villages, schools, and private organizations to keep taxpayer cost at a minimum while still providing sorely needed recreation opportunities. Police Our Police Department continues to make our town safer with increased traffic enforcement, fewer accidents, reduced crime and a higher rate of arrests than 2004. I thank Councilman Floyd DeAngelo for his work with that department. Smart growth Our town continues to grow, but thanks to our 2002 zoning code, we are preserving on average over 60 percent of every site that gets developed. Our zoning is spreading throughout New York State, hailed as the responsible way to grow; our town was recognized with the first-ever NYSAR award for smart growth. In 2005 we updated our street specifications to ensure that when developers build roads they will now last for 20 or more years with minimum care. We also initiated a top to bottom re-evaluation of the Route 94 business district to ensure compliance with the town’s comprehensive plan. This study which will also address affordable housing options will be completed in 2006. PDR program The PDR program made great strides in 2005. The town, under the leadership of Ag Board chair Seymour Gordon, closed on the Raynor, Mabee and Lewis farms, adding a total of more than 280 acres of protected land to the program. The town also secured an additional $1.2 million dollars of third-party funding to enhance a rapidly dwindling PDR fund. All the remaining money is pledged to farms and open space and should be spent by 2007. The return on this investment can not be discounted. School tax increases not realized, water resources saved and working farms preserved have paid us back ten fold. Land values have skyrocketed because people value our quality of life. This is good for all of us. It is with this in mind that the Town Board sought and received, through the hard work of Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt and Senator Tom Morahan, the ability to put to our voters, in a mandatory referendum, the question of imposing a local real estate transfer tax for farmland preservation. A November vote is expected. Hellos and good-byes 2005 also saw us say good-bye to Karen Lavinski our town clerk for over 17 years. We will miss Karen’s professionalism and attention to detail but wish her all the best for a well earned retirement. We do get to welcome a new clerk, Meg Quackenbush, who we know will be outstanding. Meg is someone who will continue the tradition of excellence that our residents have come to enjoy. Conclusion Town of Warwick residents continue to enjoy the second lowest Town tax rate in Orange County and a quality of life second to none. 2006 will not be without its challenges but together we will continue to make progress toward our goal of keeping Warwick the envy of New York State.