Tyler Sawyer Appointed Grafton Supervisor

by Alex Brooks
The Grafton Town Board voted 3-1 to appoint Tyler Sawyer as Grafton Supervisor for the rest of this year. The Board began its meeting with an executive session, and when they emerged Mike Crandall nominated Sawyer. He, Ed Fredricks and Marie Claus voted in favor, and Barbara Messenger voted against the appointment.
Grafton Supervisor Allison Kirchner sent a letter of resignation early in April, effective at the end of April.
Deputy Supervisor Ed Fredricks, as Acting Supervisor, started running the meeting. He said, “Allison will be missed. She is a hard working person who has served the Town well. I want the Town to realize what we have lost.”
After Sawyer was voted in, he was immediately sworn in and he ran the meeting from then on.
Code Enforcement Officer Tom Withcuskey said he has  seen a large positive response to the amnesty program passed at the last meeting, which allows residents to report buildings or additions that were built without building permits and get a retroactive permit without penalty. The purpose is to get the assessments up to date. Withcuskey said he has received over 200 calls from Town residents. “Everybody understands what we’re trying to do. We’re still getting 25 calls a day,” he said.
Later in the meeting, Sawyer talked a bit about the problem which the amnesty program will help to address. He said, “The tentative equalization rate for Grafton is below 8%. I think that’s the lowest rate in Rensselaer County. School taxes are being pushed onto the Town of Grafton.”
Sawyer said Craig Surprise estimated last summer that as much as 40% of the real estate value in Town is not on the books. If some of that value gets back onto the books, Grafton residents will pay less in school taxes and get more from the County in sales tax revenue sharing, which is distributed based on assessed value.
There were many comments from the public critical of the amnesty program. Rick Ungaro called it a “Salem witch hunt.” He took exception to the use of aerial imagery, which he feels is “an intrusion on the people’s privacy.”
Pat Ivory said he thought the Town “has no right to get people to incriminate themselves.”
Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo said of the amnesty program, “This is a benefit that the Town is offering to the residents – the Town is giving you a break. We’re not looking backwards, we just want to tax the improvements properly as we go forward.”
Sawyer said, “This is not a witch hunt – we’re just trying to get the assessments right.”
Ungaro hired attorney Brian Baker to come to the meeting to protect the rights of the people to speak at the meeting. Ungaro has said that he feels Ferlazzo’s presence has intimidated people who wanted to speak. Ferlazzo didn’t say much at this meeting, and Baker didn’t say anything publicly. Just about everyone who wanted to speak had their opportunity over the course of about an hour of public comments, in which perhaps twenty people or so spoke their peace. Sawyer listened to what everyone had to say and responded to many of the comments.
Good Debt Vs Bad Debt
David Buckley said, “This Town is a half million dollars in the hole.” Sawyer said that that is not true. He said the Town owes about $280,000, which is owed for a truck and for the construction of the Senior Center. He made a distinction between good debt, which evens out over a number of years the cost of large purchases, and bad debt, which comes from having annual operating deficits, and he asserted that what the Town owes is the former. He said he had given Doug LaRoque, who is on the Town Democratic Committee, papers showing in detail what the Town owes and how it incurred the debt.
Sole Assessor
Another topic that several people spoke about was the switch to an appointed sole assessor without any public referendum, which several people in the audience felt was a very undemocratic move. Bill Middleton said again that he had presented 115 signatures of Town residents who wanted to keep the elected Board of Assessors, and that he could have gotten many, many more.  Pat Ivory said he had offered to take the assessor position when Bill Middleton resigned and said he was “brushed off.” He said he was told the Town was going to a sole assessor, and his application for the vacant position was ignored.
Supervisor And Bookkeeper
Another topic people wanted to discuss was Sawyer’s holding two jobs in the Town government. He was already the Town Bookkeeper, a job which pays $13,500 per year, and now he is also the Supervisor, a job which pays $9,450 per year (although this would be pro-rated, since he is only appointed from now until the end of the year). Some were concerned about this from a fiscal accountability standpoint, since there would no longer be two separate people scrutinizing the books. But Sawyer said the other members of the Town Board also look very carefully at the Town books, since they have to sign off on every expenditure.  Others just seemed to think the pay was excessive if he held both jobs, since Sawyer at one point early in his career as Supervisor did the books himself as part of the Supervisor’s job, without additional pay.  He pointed out that at another point early in his career as Supervisor, the Town hired Laura Reynolds to keep the Town books, at an annual cost of $11,000. He said some Supervisors keep the books themselves and some use a bookkeeper, and the Supervisor is free to choose either method. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with him doing both jobs.
Take A Step Back
Democratic Committeeman Doug LaRoque made a statement during the public comment period which crew quite a bit of applause. He said, “The loss of our Supervisor bothers me. Some of the vitriol that I have heard makes me sick. That is not what this Town is about. I would like people to take a step back. The vitriol needs to stop. A number of people here have hurt someone who gave her heart and soul to this Town. It hurts me that Allison was unable to finish her term.”