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Month: February 2021

Calling all Artists and Artisans

We have so very many talented artists and artisans in the Town of Stanford and I would like to showcase someone’s work each month on our website.  It would be an excellent way for all of us to explore the talent within our own Community.

There will be a gallery of photographs of your work – be in wood craft or paintings, pottery or jewelry.  Whatever your art is, I would love to begin to feature it.

Please send a sample of your work to me at wburton@townofstanford.org so I can begin to create a calendar of shows.

The Stanford Quarantine Cookbook

It’s almost a year since we were first quarantined due to Covid. It’s been tough time but it has given us the opportunity to be creative in the kitchen. Whether it’s been baking, making ice cream during the summer, trying out new recipes, or pulling out the old family favorites, food has been a consolation. Some of us may have gotten bored with our own recipes and are looking for new ones!!!

Now is the time to share those recipes with your neighbors. The Stanford Events Committee is compiling a cookbook, the Stanford Quarantine Cookbook, that will be available to all residents on June 1st. Please share! Send your recipes to stanfordquarantinecookbook@gmail.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number. This is open to all Town of Stanford residents.

 

Easter Egg Hunt !

Town of Stanford Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt 

Date: March 27, 2021

Starts @ 10:00 am

 

Registration is REQUIRED (link below) and is only open to residents of the Town of Stanford and of Pine Plains Central School District. The deadline to register is March 20.

 

Click HERE to register 

 

Masks will be required at this event, and COVID-19 protocols will be in place to help keep everyone safe. 

 

If you have any questions, please email Rec Secretary, Sara Knickerbocker at sknickerbocker@townofstanford.org

Help Wanted for the Town Rec !

We are currently looking to hire an Assistant Recreation Director for Summer 2021! This is a seasonal position that would run from late June – early September and would be responsible for assisting the Recreation Director in running the summer programming and supervising staff.

Qualifications for the Assistant Director include:

Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma AND EITHER:

  1. One year of responsible experience in planning or directing recreation activities;
  2. One year of study at a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or

university with major work in physical education or recreation;

  1. Any equivalent combination of training and experience within the limits of (A) and (B)

If interested, please email your resume and/or any questions to recreation@townofstanford.org

An Explanation of your 2021 Tax Bill

I am deeply sorry that there continues to be so much confusion about our 2021 tax bills.  To explain as simply as I can, the reason the tax levy increase appears on your tax bill as 175% harkens back to the 60% cut that was done in 2020 when the prior administration changed the levy after losing the election.  The Town only received $418,000 in Real Property Taxes last year for the entire year.  The Highway alone was supposed to receive just shy of $1 million..  The General Fund received no financing at all.  

When we prepared the 2021 Budget, after shaving off as much fat as we thought prudent, we used our 2019 taxes as a basis from which to work.  Using 2020 was absolutely non-sustainable.  You can’t maintain a town with 60% tax cuts year after year.

The taxes did go up.  If you compare them to the benchmark year that we said we would use [2019], the tax hike is quite small.  If you compare them to the tax bill you received in 2020, after the levy was cut by 60% by the outgoing administration, the difference is considerable.  It was predicted at a December 2019 Town Board meeting that a Democratic administration would raise taxes, which was an ironic self-fulfilling prophecy. Both the citizens of Stanford and my administration were set up so this would happen.  We have worked diligently on the Town finances. We have corrected accounting errors that date back to 2016 which significantly impacted our balance sheets.  We are poised to move forward now, and hope to be able to enter 2022 without raising taxes at all.  I can’t promise that. We will need to see how the year unfolds, but it is a real goal. 

If your taxes in 2019 were hypothetically $100 and the levy was cut by 60%, your taxes would have been $40.00 for 2020. If we had raised taxes for 2021 by 60%, that would have been an additional $24.00, $64.00 in total.    EVEN at 175%, your taxes would be $70.00 which means we did not make up the entire deficit that the TAX CUT created.  When we used our 2019 taxes as a base line, the increase was about 8.5%, which has given us a solid foundation for Budgets moving forward.  Please look at your 2019 tax bill and if you have questions, call me directly at 868 1310 option 2.  I’ll be happy to explain as best as I can.

 

 

Town Hall Closed February 1st due to Nor’Easter

Due to predictions of strong winds and heavy snowfall, Town Hall will be closed on Monday.  If you have an emergency, please call 911.  

Many of use will be working remotely from home so you can still email us with questions or problems.

We will decide tonight whether we need to close Town Hall tomorrow as well.

The emergency phone number for Central Hudson is 845 452 2700.  Please stay safe.