The Chronicle Express : Afraid to Ask the Tough Questions ?

Penn Yan's newspaper, The Chronicle Express, has run a series of stories in recent months about the $3.6 million community center that a group called Yates Cultural and Recreational Resources Inc. is promoting. Many of these so-called “articles” appear to be public relations pieces written by the community center group themselves. Financial data prepared by CPA Jim Carey shows that the community center group is projecting that most of their operating budget will be raised by new taxes imposed upon Yates County residents. With great fanfare, politicians spoke and the community center group handed out free food in an attempt to sell their idea to the community. Sure, people like free food. The bigger question is, are they willing to take on the long term tax burden of subsidizing a $3.6 community center with an annual operating budget of $300,000 - $400,000?

Our Yates County legislators are considering some austere measures in the face of a projected 27.5% property tax levy increase in the upcoming year. There is a real danger that critical county services may be cut. County employees may be laid off. In these troubling times, local townships aren’t looking to expand their budgets on the backs of local taxpayers either. A recent study by the state’s Public Policy Institute showed that upstate New York residents pay 70% more in property taxes than the US average. Let’s not make any bones about it. The community center group cannot maintain the type of facility they are proposing - one with no membership fees - without exacting even more taxes on Yates County residents, many of whom are on fixed incomes and already pushed to the brink.

The community center people say they will not go forward with their project if there isn’t support for it, yet they have no mechanisms in place to measure support or lack thereof. They have conducted only one or two nonscientific surveys that don’t address the cost of the project. No one can argue that a state of the art community center complete with a performance theater and an indoor track and tennis court would be wonderful. But we have to look at the whole picture. Nothing is free. And just because people take free food at a public relations event doesn’t mean the entire county is willing to increase their tax burden and foot the bill for the annual expenses of a community center in Penn Yan.

The group’s financial projections call for what appears to be the purchase of 6 acres from the village of Penn Yan at the village boat launch site at a cost of $150,000. Is it appropriate for the village to sell off long held village parkland to a private entity? Is this a project for all of Yates County or merely for the village of Penn Yan? Mayor Marchionda is on record at a Penn Yan village board meeting as saying that the village would not sell land to the community center group at the village owned boat launch site, and that any community center building erected there would be wholly owned by the village. Community Center spokesmen say this is an "insignificant detail" . Oh really? Sounds pretty significant to some of us.

If local residents are going to make an informed decision on whether or not to support this project, then articles published in the Chronicle Express need start reflecting the complexity of this issue, including the thorny question of how the project will be financed.

Archive - Past "What's New" Items:

Archive - Past "What's New" Items:

Ode to a Fallen Oak - August 7, 2004
Who Moved Our Sign? - August 14, 2004
Special Use Permits - August 21, 2004
What's Wrong with this Picture? - September 11, 2004
Who are You Calling? - September 19, 2004
Chronicle Express - Afraid to Ask the Tough Questions? - September 30, 2004
Who You Callin' - Volume 2 - December 27, 2004
Should Snowmobiles be Allowed in the Village? - January 2005
Revised EAF and so-called 'decibel study' - March 2005
A New Tour Boat for Keuka Lake - May 2005
Walgreens Proposal- July 2005
August Boat show - August 2005

 

 

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