OPPOSITION CANDIDATES LAMENT THAT RAMAPO FISCAL STRESS GOES UP FURTHER

To the Editor,

The finances of the Town of Ramapo have gone from bad to worse. The NYS Comptrollers’ Office just released the fiscal stress scores for municipalities in New York State and the Town of Ramapo remains as one of the most fiscally stressed. Ramapo’s fiscal stress score went from 70.8 percent in 2012 to 77.1 percent in 2014, and is projected to go to 81.3 percent in 2015. This fiscal stress score puts Ramapo in the category of “significant fiscal stress”, which the comptroller generally defines as a local government’s (Ramapo) “significant” inability to generate enough revenues within its current fiscal period to meet its expenditures (budget solvency).

If things continue in this terrible direction, do you know who will pay for the endemic fiscal mismanagement and reckless spending on pet projects by the town supervisor and his administration?  It won’t be the super wealthy, it won’t be the tax-exempt properties, it won’t be those who collect their rent in cash, or even the builders who sneak extra illegal apartments into their new apartment houses and pocket the rent.  It will be us, the middle class homeowners.  In response, many middle class homeowners will increasingly flee Ramapo, further eroding our tax base.

It should be further noted that earlier this year, one of our candidates for Town Council, William J Weber,  findings were published in the Rockland County Times that the Town of Ramapo did not file their 2013 financials with the NYS Comptrollers’ office in a timely manner and did not get rated. William, who is also a CPA, went ahead and did the calculation himself and determined that the Town of Ramapo was indeed in this terrible fiscal situation. The Ramapo Supervisor was asked about this on a weekly radio show back in February and he brushed it off as election year politics. Unfortunately, the NYS Comptroller today has confirmed these facts.

This report clearly shows that the town has been moving in the wrong direction for many years, and is in desperate need of responsible and disciplined management. If you elect us, we will refuse to allow Ramapo to end up like a Roosevelt Long Island, or a Camden New Jersey, towns in terrible poverty without the ability to support their police or even their roads.

Michael Parietti, Ramapo Supervisor Candidate

William J. Weber, Ramapo Town Council Candidate

Timothy D. Scott, Ramapo Town Council Candidate

Robert Romanowski, Ramapo Supt of Highways Candidate