Candidates go head to head on fiscal future

continued from front page to save every penny,” Fare said, “and not repair roads and not make improvements.”

Aggressive steps were needed to pump money into the village’s outdated, cashstarved infrastructure, argued Fare. Fixing a dilapidated swimming pool. Modernizing an outdated fleet of street sweepers and snow plows. Purchasing new ambulances and fire trucks.

“We wrongly thought the smartest thing was to take out of our cash reserves to buy for these improvements,” Fare said.

But now that those big-ticket items have been taken care of, Fare argues the village’s overzealous spending phase is behind them. And because of that, its finances are turning a corner.

“We have $2 million in the bank, and we just sold Parking Lot 26 for $7 million,” the mayor said. “So, we’ll have $9 million back in the bank within a month or two.”

Recent belt-tightening efforts appear to have worked for the moment, halting further financial stress. But challengers are quick to point out the village’s sour credit rating hasn’t budged, sharing in the opinion of financial observers that the outlook of a fast fiscal recovery remains doubtful.

To shore up the village’s financial posi- tion, Bonelli said bold cost-cutting measures must be made — starting with cutting back on what he perceives as a bloated village bureaucracy.

“I would consolidate titles for jobs like hired security guards, public safety officers, and code enforcement under one title,” Bonelli said.

He would also eliminate certain perks like take-home village vehicles for the managers — something the incumbent party argued is indispensable for managers to have to respond quickly to late-night calls and other emergencies.

Arroyo described the village’s financial damage is a symptom of a larger problem.

“There is an aspect of carelessness and lack of future thinking that led to where we are today,” she said. “There’s a vacuum of expertise in the village that needs to be filled.”

Need to file an absentee ballot?

Absentee ballot applications can be mailed or delivered in-person to Village Clerk Jay Hunter at Village Hall, 123 South Central Ave., by Tuesday, March 14.

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Arroyo called for a renewed focus on securing a better-qualified workforce, especially for those steering the village’s major development projects to avoid well-intentioned proposals from backfiring.

She cited an example of mismanagement reaching back to 2017 when the village planted ornamental pear trees throughout the Rockaway Avenue downtown district.

“It was awesome that they planted trees,” Arroyo said. “Study after study says that a downtown that’s green, that is aesthetically pleasing to walk through, encourages more foot traffic and more business.”

But the trees had eventually succumbed to a fungal infection and were ultimately cut down, an incident that Vincent Drze- wucki Jr. — a horticulture expert at Cornell University’s cooperative extension — said could have been avoided had they not planted the same species of tree within the same area.

Ballots must be delivered in-person no later than the close of polls on Tuesday, March 21.

“A grown-up tree costs thousands of dollars, so they spent thousands of dollars to beautify the downtown,” Arroyo said. “If you have a good policy with bad implementation, that’s just a bad policy. It’s the outcome that people have to live with.”

But that’s not what’s happening in Valley Stream, the mayor said.

“Nothing that we do is short-sighted,” Fare said. “We have long-term goals that are bearing fruit today. Our deputy treasurer David Sabatino in charge of development is a bona fide expert with a degree in urban planning. He educates the board about improving our streets.

“We defer to expertise when needed.”

Community Forum For The Superintendent Search Foro Comunitario Para El Superintendente Search

The Valley Stream 24 Board of Education has engaged with District Wise Search Consultants to conduct the search for its next Superintendent of Schools. On behalf of The Trustees of the Board of Education, we would like to invite residents of Valley Stream 24 to attend a forum led by the search consultants.

The community forum has been scheduled for:

March 13, 2023, at 7:00 pm at The William L. Buck School gymnasium

For those that are unable to attend in person, please join us at the same time on Zoom. The link can be found at https://valleystreamschooldistrict24.org.

The participation of all stakeholders is very important during this process. All information gathered will be included anonymously in a report that will be prepared for the Board. For those unable to attend the meeting, or for those who prefer to provide their suggestions and opinions privately, a confidential e-mail address has been established by the consultants… VS24SupSearch@districtwisesearch.com

La Junta de Educación de Valley Stream 24 se ha comprometido con District Wise Search Consultants para realizar la búsqueda de su próximo Superintendente de Escuelas. En nombre de los Fideicomisarios de la Junta de Educación, nos gustaría invitar a los residentes de Valley Stream 24 a asistir a un foro dirigido por los consultores de búsqueda.

Se programó una reunión para el 13 de marzo de 2023 a las 7:00 p. m. en el gimnasio de la Escuela William L. Buck

Para aquellos que no puedan asistir en persona, únase a nosotros al mismo tiempo en Zoom. El enlace se puede encontrar en https://valleystreamschooldistrict24.org.

La participación de todas las partes interesadas es muy importante durante este proceso. Toda la información recopilada se incluirá de forma anónima en un informe que se preparará para la Junta. Para aquellos que no puedan asistir a la reunión, o para aquellos que prefieran aportar sus sugerencias y opiniones en privado, los consultores han establecido una dirección de correo electrónico confidencial… VS24SupSearch@districtwisesearch.com