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CORTLANDT, N.Y. As taxpayers surveyed their tax bill in 2011, their designated fire district may not have stood out. In the Town of Cortlandt, fire protection is served by fire districts, which can levy millions of tax dollars, but have practically non-existent voter turnout.
Fire commissioners are sort of like town board members, and they control the budget of the fire district, Cortlandt Town Clerk Jo-Ann Dyckman explained. They control the monies that come in through the town tax bill and it gets distributed through the separate districts. I dont know if people actually realize how much money they have control over.
The Mohegan Lake Fire District adopted a budget for $6,721,805 for the 2012 fiscal year, according to Dyckman. The New York State Comptroller said fire districts raise over 90 percent of their budgets through real property taxes, associated with a homeowners assessed home value. Cortlandts three fire districts will hold elections on Tuesday.
Westchester County Board of Elections counts over 49,000 active voters in the combined towns of Cortlandt and Yorktown. The Mohegan Lake Fire District straddles the Cortlandt-Yorktown boundary. Of those tens of thousands of registered voters, the Mohegan Lake Fire District secretary expects a good voter turnout to be around a few hundred.
We usually have about 200 or 300. I doubt if it will even get that high, its hard to say. Hes running unopposed, said Gail Gordineer, Mohegan Lake Fire District secretary, about Commissioner David Zugner, who is running for reelection. Gordineer has been district secretary for 15 years. One year we had, I think, 500 or 600, but very seldom do we have more than that.
Much like town boards, commissioners prepare and adopt budgets for the district, have the power to raise taxes, and the power to appoint officers within the fire departments. Many area fire districts do not have websites, even if the fire departments for which they serve do. Although there is a Mohegan Lake Fire Association website, there is not a website for the Mohegan Lake Fire District, said Gordineer.
Other fire districts which will hold public elections for commissioners on Tuesday in Cortlandt include the Montrose Fire District and the Verplanck Fire District. The Montrose Fire District has a budget of $805,609, and the Verplanck Fire District has a budget of $584,000, both for the 2012 fiscal year, according to Dyckman.
Glenn Welch, secretary for the Verplanck Fire District, said about voter turnout, On a good guess, I got to say probably about 50 again. Theres no competition for commissioner. Commissioner David Smyth will run unopposed in the Verplanck Fire District.
The Montrose Fire District, the only fire district of the three which has a website, does not list the election on their Community Calendar, although they did file public notice with the Town of Cortlandt, and Montrose Commissioner Robert Piazza said the district filed notice with the Journal News. Commission chair, Robert Lockwood, is running unopposed for reelection in the Montrose Fire District.
The Verplanck Fire District election will be held at the Red School House on 6th Street in Verplanck. Polling will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Montrose Fire District election will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the fire house on Route 9A in Montrose. The Mohegan Lake Fire District will hold its election at the Jefferson Valley Fire House, at 500 Lee Blvd., in Yorktown Heights, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
All of the above fire districts elect commissioners for five years terms, and stagger the election of their commissioners annually.
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