Hamburg’s Prosperity Grows

Steven Walters has instituted an agenda of decreased taxes, consolidation of Departments and paying off town debt. This has resulted in a business friendly township with two straight years of tax decreases. Even the new County Executive has failed to do as Steven Walters and his Conservative minded members of the Town Council have been able to accomplish. Tom Best and Kevin Smardz have joined Steven Walters and we now see that government can operate for the people without fleecing them at every turn. 

A few people think that the Democrats on the Town Council deserve just as much credit. They think Kesner and Quatroche should stand next to the same accolades that Walters, Best and Smardz get but I’m not so sure they should. After all they were on the Town Council for all those years that your taxes were increased and never stood against a single one. As a matter of fact I believe that Mark Cavalcoli was the only Democrat to ever hold the Democrats accountable for anything. So that begs the question.

Do you think that Hamburg has become the township to mimic and follow over the next decade?

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/southernsuburbs/story/558724.html

Walters hails town’s progress; others say credit shared

Fred O. Williams,  NEWS STAFF REPORTER

In the fourth year of his four-year term, Hamburg’s supervisor listed accomplishments — including two years of tax cuts — and declared that his reforms have proved critics wrong.

Steven J. Walters used his annual State of the Town speech Friday to trumpet successes that, he said, give Hamburg a solid financial position in an uncertain fiscal climate.

“I am here to tell all of you not ‘yes we can,’ but ‘yes we did,’ ” he said.

Walters, a Republican, delivered the speech before the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in a year when he will be up for re-election. As many as four of the five seats on the Town Board, where Republicans hold a majority, could be open.

Walters pointed to the town’s $2.9 million surplus and a spending total below $40 million for the first time since 2004.

Vincent J. Sorrentino, chairman of the Town Democratic Party, said Walters doesn’t deserve credit for the town’s fiscal health.

“The town has been in good financial shape,” he said. Bond ratings have long given the town high marks for fiscal responsibility, he said.

Over the past two years, the state has pumped in more than $2 million in revenue from slot machines on the Erie County Fairground, he said, a windfall that makes budgeting easier.

Walters said the town has used that money to pay down debt, yielding long-term savings fueling more spending.

He note that, since he took office, general fund debt has decreased to $2 million from $6 million, reducing annual interest costs to $400,000 from nearly to $900,000.

Councilman Thomas J. Quatroche Jr., a Democrat, said department heads, as well as the entire Town Board, deserve credit for the town’s efficient operations.

“Over the years we’ve hired a lot of good, competent, non-political people who do a heck of a job,” Quatroche said.

In his address, the supervisor also pointed to business-friendly efforts in the past year including laws to allow electronic signs and temporary outdoor storage units.

While some of those measures have sparked controversy, Betty Newell, Chamber president, said she thinks the town’s business community supports the directions Walters has taken.

Walters also took the opportunity to dispute criticism from former Highway Superintendent James Connolly, who has said that road salting and paving are underfunded. Connolly resigned earlier this month after sparring with the board over his budget.

“Our streets will continue to be cleared of the ice and snow that accumulates, and we will continue to properly maintain our roads,” Walters said.

fwilliams@buffnews.com