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Bassin is proud of comp plan
By Francesca Olsen
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
Art Bassin, current chair of the Ancram Comprehensive Plan Committee, is a 31-year resident of Columbia County and is running for supervisor.
Bassin is a former president of Citibank and former executive vice president of Dime Savings Bank, and he has been dairy and horse farming for about 30 years. Bassin has also served as chair of Ancram’s Community Development Block Grant project and Farmland Protection planning committee. He ran for town board in 2007, but lost by five votes.
Bassin’s work with the comprehensive plan committee got him motivated to run for town supervisor. A final draft of the plan currently awaits town board approval. “As we got closer to the end of the comp plan process, I realized all the work...might have got treated with less respect that it deserved from the town board,” he said.
“The community has gotten the feeling this town board is not committed to the comp plan as presented.”
Arguments have arisen over whether to adopt the plan now or wait for the zoning revisions committee to finish revising zoning to match the comp plan; Bassin said as supervisor, he would work to adopt the plan as soon as possible, then work to revise zoning according to the plan.
Another major issue facing Ancram is the need for a new town highway garage. “It’s atrocious,” Bassin said of the current garage. He suggests it be built on the same site as the current garage, to avoid conflicts with residents who neighbor any new potential property, or environmental problems such as the disruption of wetlands.
As for the recent (and ongoing) controversy over assessments, Bassin said, “we haven’t developed the information to establish whether we have a problem or not.”
He said the town shouldn’t decide it needs a potentially expensive revaluation until complete information about the integrity of the assessment roll is reached. “I think we need to appoint a committee or get an expert to look at this thing correctly,” he said. “Forty-two complaints does not seem like an our of control re-val to me. The important thing is, you get somebody who knows what they’re doing to do it.”
Ancram has been inundated with tension, Bassin said, since the death of former supervisor Gerald Simons and later, a walkout of three town board members. Bassin will work to eliminate “we-they” tension from Ancram’s political dialogue, he said, “starting by saying, ‘we’re not going to promote it anymore.’”
“A management process is, let’s find some middle ground. We’ve got to come to some kind of consensus as a community and move forward.”
Another major issue to Bassin is “better financial discipline and control.”
“The monthly financial review amounts to Tom reading the bank balances,” he said. Bassin wants to present a full finance report, including information from the previous month, so residents can come to some conclusion about the direction of town money. He also wants the highway supervisor to present a monthly report.
“Since Gerry (Simons) passed away, we’ve been learning how to govern ourselves, and it’s hard,” he said. “There are big financial issues. People are hurting right now. We can’t do it the way Gerry did it. We’ve got to get our hands around this stuff.”
In a troubled economy, Bassin said he would look at cutting the town’s budget “instead of continuing to bump taxes up a couple of percent each year.” Taxes in Ancram have doubled in four years, he said, and Ancram needs a “five year financial plan” and better, more frequent explanation of the town budget and its status to residents.
Regarding county-wide issues, Bassin said he had no formal political opinion on the county’s decisions regarding Pine Haven or the purchase of the old Ockawamick school building, but said, “I get nervous when somebody says, ‘spend $25 million, the state will cover all but $6 million,” in regard to the proposed new skilled nursing facility to be built on the current Pine Haven site.
Regarding the county’s resolution to purchase the One City Centre property in Hudson, Bassin said, “that seems like an extravagance, but I don’t know what the numbers are, so I would be cautious.”
Bassin is a former president of Citibank and former executive vice president of Dime Savings Bank, and he has been dairy and horse farming for about 30 years. Bassin has also served as chair of Ancram’s Community Development Block Grant project and Farmland Protection planning committee. He ran for town board in 2007, but lost by five votes.
Bassin’s work with the comprehensive plan committee got him motivated to run for town supervisor. A final draft of the plan currently awaits town board approval. “As we got closer to the end of the comp plan process, I realized all the work...might have got treated with less respect that it deserved from the town board,” he said.
“The community has gotten the feeling this town board is not committed to the comp plan as presented.”
Arguments have arisen over whether to adopt the plan now or wait for the zoning revisions committee to finish revising zoning to match the comp plan; Bassin said as supervisor, he would work to adopt the plan as soon as possible, then work to revise zoning according to the plan.
Another major issue facing Ancram is the need for a new town highway garage. “It’s atrocious,” Bassin said of the current garage. He suggests it be built on the same site as the current garage, to avoid conflicts with residents who neighbor any new potential property, or environmental problems such as the disruption of wetlands.
As for the recent (and ongoing) controversy over assessments, Bassin said, “we haven’t developed the information to establish whether we have a problem or not.”
He said the town shouldn’t decide it needs a potentially expensive revaluation until complete information about the integrity of the assessment roll is reached. “I think we need to appoint a committee or get an expert to look at this thing correctly,” he said. “Forty-two complaints does not seem like an our of control re-val to me. The important thing is, you get somebody who knows what they’re doing to do it.”
Ancram has been inundated with tension, Bassin said, since the death of former supervisor Gerald Simons and later, a walkout of three town board members. Bassin will work to eliminate “we-they” tension from Ancram’s political dialogue, he said, “starting by saying, ‘we’re not going to promote it anymore.’”
“A management process is, let’s find some middle ground. We’ve got to come to some kind of consensus as a community and move forward.”
Another major issue to Bassin is “better financial discipline and control.”
“The monthly financial review amounts to Tom reading the bank balances,” he said. Bassin wants to present a full finance report, including information from the previous month, so residents can come to some conclusion about the direction of town money. He also wants the highway supervisor to present a monthly report.
“Since Gerry (Simons) passed away, we’ve been learning how to govern ourselves, and it’s hard,” he said. “There are big financial issues. People are hurting right now. We can’t do it the way Gerry did it. We’ve got to get our hands around this stuff.”
In a troubled economy, Bassin said he would look at cutting the town’s budget “instead of continuing to bump taxes up a couple of percent each year.” Taxes in Ancram have doubled in four years, he said, and Ancram needs a “five year financial plan” and better, more frequent explanation of the town budget and its status to residents.
Regarding county-wide issues, Bassin said he had no formal political opinion on the county’s decisions regarding Pine Haven or the purchase of the old Ockawamick school building, but said, “I get nervous when somebody says, ‘spend $25 million, the state will cover all but $6 million,” in regard to the proposed new skilled nursing facility to be built on the current Pine Haven site.
Regarding the county’s resolution to purchase the One City Centre property in Hudson, Bassin said, “that seems like an extravagance, but I don’t know what the numbers are, so I would be cautious.”
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