The most foregone of conclusions for local voters in this year’s November 7 elections is that a majority of the seats in the Ulster County Legislature will be filled by Democrats.
Those who follow local politics know that of the 23 seats on the body, a majority 12 will be occupied, come 2024, by Dems who are running unopposed. Another five legislative seats will be won, so to speak, by Republicans running without opposition.
Uncertainty only lies with six contests, the results of which will determine if the Democrats can keep, or add to their current 16-7 supermajority.
The races this year are more highlighted by who is not returning than glittering newcomer names. Starting at the top, Legislative Chairwoman Tracey Bartels (no party, but who has caucused with Democrats) of Gardiner and Shawangunk will not return. Nor will Ken Ronk Jr. of Shawangunk, the Republican Minority Leader and one-time Legislature Chair Ronk will now seek the supervisor’s position in Shawangunk — unopposed. Majority Leader, Democrat Jonathan Heppner of Woodstock, will step aside as will Town of Ulsterite Brian Cahill, and Kingston upstart one-termer Phil Erner. Stalwart Republican Dean Fabiano of Saugerties and Ulster will not return, nor will Esopus Democrat Laura Petit.
As of last February, New York State statistics say that Ulster County has a population of 182,319 and that 133,254 (a full 73 percent) are registered to vote. The breakdown of those registrations is glaring. Used to be, until the last decade and a half, Republicans had been dominant in the legislature — save for a lone term in the late 1970s, when Dems eked out a majority and proceeded to do away with the county property tax, only to get walloped at the next election.
But Democrats now total a healthy plurality of 56,048; next comes those registered voters who are not enrolled in any party, with 38,063; Republicans trail, with 30,100 registrations. Conservatives have around 2600, Working Families are under 1000; other parties come in the 5600 range.
One other statistic matters for our purposes. If you divide the county population (according to the 2020 census) of 182,319 by 23 (the number of districts in the legislature) you see that each contains approximately 7926 citizens.
So, who’s running? Here’s the breakdown
District 1 in the Town of Saugerties has Democrat incumbent Aaron Levine running unopposed.
District 2 in the town and village of Saugerties has incumbent Democrat Joseph Maloney running unopposed.
In District 3 in the towns of Saugerties and Ulster, Conservative Republican Dean Fabiano, is not running again. Democrat and Working Families (WF) party candidate Keith Gurgui will square off against Republican Conservative Jason Kovacs.
District 4 in the Towns of Kingston, Ulster, will get a new look, as Democrat Brian Cahill steps out, leaving Tamika Dunkley, Democrat, WF vs. Eric J. Kitchen, Republican and Conservative.
District 5 in the City of Kingston will reelect Abe Uchitelle, Democrat and Working Families, who has no opponent.
With Democrat Phil Erner not running District 6 in the City of Kingston will feature Greg McCoullough, Democrat, WF, versus Suzanne Timbrouck, on the Independence line.
District 7 in the City of Kingston will reelect Democrat Peter Criswell with no opposition.
Joe Donaldson Democrat, WF will be unopposed in District 8, Esopus, as incumbent Laura Petit steps aside.
District 9 in the towns of Lloyd and Plattekill, will feature a real race. Incumbent Republican Conservative Herbert Litts III faces Robert Haskins, Democrat, WF.
Gina Hansut, Republican, Conservative incumbent runs unopposed in District 10 (Towns of Lloyd and Marlborough) as does Thomas Corcoran Jr. Republican, Conservative in District 11 (Town of Marlborough.)
Same with Kevin Roberts, Republican, Conservative in, Plattekill’s District 12.
With Kenneth Ronk Jr., Republican, Conservative, not running, fellow Republican Richard T. Walls, will be unopposed in the Town of Shawangunk’s 13th District.
District 14 in the Towns of Shawangunk and Wawarsing presents Republican incumbent Craig V. Lopez, but not running as Republican. He’ll be on the ballot for the Independence Party, and will be opposed by Kelli Palinkas Greer, Democrat, WF.
District 15 in Wawarsing, and the village of Ellenville has a contest between John Gavaris, the Democratic incumbent vs. Daniel C. McQuillan, on the Republican, and Independence lines.
In District 16, (Towns of Gardiner, Shawangunk) Tracey A. Bartels (No party) is not running again, so we’ve got Debra Clinton, Democrat and WF vs. Phil R. Johnson Republican, Conservative.
Democrat Megan Sperry is unopposed in District 17, Esopus and New Paltz.
Same in District 18 (Hurley, Marbletown), where Eric Stewart, Democrat and WF is unopposed.
Also unopposed is Democrat and WF party’s Manna Jo Greene, in District 19, Marbletown and Rosendale.
In New Paltz District 20 Democratic incumbent Tricia Bowen is not running. Democrat, WF Limina Grave Harmon, will run unopposed.
District 21, in Rochester and Wawarsing gives us incumbent Chris Hewitt, Democrat, WF, versus Ronald G. Lapp Jr. Republican, Conservative.
Incumbent Democrat and Working Families candidate Kathy Nolan is unopposed in District 22, consisting of Denning, Hardenburgh, Olive and Shandaken.
And finally, in District 23, consisting of Woodstock and Hurley, where Legislature Majority Leader Jonathan Heppner, Democrat, WF, is not running, Democrat Jeff Collins is unopposed.
Early voting information
Early voting for the November 7 election will take place from Saturday, October 28 through Sunday, November 5 — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on October 28, October 29, October 31, November 1, November 3, November 4 and November 5; noon to 8 p.m. on October 30 and November 2. Locations for early voting will be at the Olive American Legion Hall, 26-28 Mountain Road, Shokan; Midtown Neighborhood Center, 467 Broadway, Kingston; the New Paltz Community Center, 3 Veterans Drive, New Paltz; Saugerties Senior Center, 207 Market Street, Saugerties; Ellenville Public Library, 40 Center Street, Ellenville and the Marlborough Town Hall, 21 Milton Turnpike, Milton.
Residents will be able to vote at any of the early voting locations. On election day, November 7, voting will take place at poll sites in the home districts.
Don’t forget the Propositions on the back of the ballots
Often forgotten, ignored or misunderstood, yet sometimes critical, the lonely propositions sit on the rear side of your ballots. This year we have four decisions to make that will appear on every ballot countywide, and several more that are specific to certain towns, and will only appear on the ballots for those towns.
So here goes:
Number One is a statewide issue. It’s a proposed State Constitutional Amendment that calls for the “Removal of Small City School Districts From Special Constitutional Debt Limitation…”
The only Small City School District that this applies to in Ulster County, is Kingston, but it nonetheless will appear on all ballots in New York State. Small Cities are defined as those with a population of fewer than 125,000, of which there are 57 in the state. Currently the State Constitution limits how much debt a small city school district can incur to no more than five percent of the value of taxable real estate in the district. (There are exceptions for certain expenses.) Other school districts are not subject to such a constitutional debt restriction, but have a different debt limit provided by state law.
An affirmative vote on your part will allow the Small Cities Districts, such as Kingston the same limitation on borrowing as all other schools.
Next comes a statewide constitutional amendment proposal that, if passed will extend for ten years an already in place authority of counties, cities, towns, and villages to remove from their constitutional debt limit calculations, debt for the construction of sewage facilities.
As we know, the state Constitution limits the debt counties, cities, towns and villages can incur. This limit currently does not include debt for sewage treatment and disposal construction projects. But the sewer debt exception expires on January 1, 2024. A ‘yes’ vote will extend the sewer debt exception for ten more years until January 1, 2034.
Proposal number three is an amendment to the Ulster County Charter regarding the process of succession for the post of County Executive. It says, “Shall Section C-29 of the Ulster County Charter, which establishes the process to fill a vacancy in office of County Executive, be amended to: Provide time to hold primaries to nominate candidates for the next General Election; and Require the Ulster County Legislature, as representatives of the electorate, to confirm the County Executive’s selection of qualified electors for Acting County Executive?”
This allows voters to get to a primary election for county executive, should there be candidates for it, prior to a special election for the job and would replace the current process wherein political parties can select candidates without a primary for a special election.
You may remember that since the inception of the County Executive position in the 2000’s, both Mike Hein and Pat Ryan have left the position before reaching the end of their terms. The jockeying to fill the job led to this proposal.
Proposal Number four says that it wants to “improve transparency and accountability of Ulster County’s financial operations and oversight, protect taxpayer funds, and comply with state and federal auditing guidance” by moving “bank reconciliation authority from the Office of the Comptroller to the Department of Finance” and that it would “clarify the audit authority of the Office of the Comptroller over component units of the County, allow the Legislature and Comptroller to obtain digital records and appropriate access to all software licensed or owned by the County or its component units, and appropriately fill any vacancy in the Office of the Comptroller.” These amendments, if passed, would become part of the Ulster County Charter.
We have some town proposals. These only apply, and will only appear on the ballots of the towns which put them there.
The town of Hardenburgh has advanced a proposition to abolish the elected position of town highway superintendent and establish an appointed town highway superintendent.
The town of Marbletown is asking its voters if they would approve of making the job of Town Supervisor a four-year term rather than a two-year term, as it is in most towns.
The town of Marlborough is also asking voters if they would prefer a four-year term for its supervisor, rather than a two-year sentence.
Marlborough and New Paltz both have Library budget propositions on the ballot.
Marlborough asks voters if they’d approve an operating budget of the Sarah Hull Hallock Free Library be increased by $36,700 to the sum $189,200 annually.
The town of New Paltz asks its voters, “shall the annual contribution of the town of New Paltz provided in its budget for the Elting Memorial Library, a free association library…be increased by $65,000 annually to $721,000 annually”
The town of Shandaken has two libraries to take care of.
“Shall the town of Shandaken” it asks its voters, “increase its annual contribution for the operating budget of the Morton Memorial Library by $5475 to the sum of $60,225 annually; and shall the town of Shandaken increase its annual contribution for the operating budget of the Phoenicia Library by $17,750 to the sum of $199,750 annually?”
And finally, the town of Saugerties checks in with its voters to see if “the manner of selecting the Receiver of Taxes in the Town of Saugerties be changed from elected to appointed, effective January 1, 2024…”
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