Patch 2011 Elections: Candidates for Town Board

Patch asked the three candidates for town board to answer a set of questions in order to inform readers their stance on relevant issues. Below is part one of our Q & A: Candidates discuss their backgrounds, the tax cap and term limits.

Luke Vander Linden, 36, is a vice-president at the marketing and fundraising consulting firm Carl Bloom Associates. He's been endorsed by the town's Republican party and has also secured the Conservative Party line. Vander Linden has lived in Bedford for three years with his wife, Britta.

David Gabrielson, 58, is the executive director of PACEnow, an advocacy organization for PACE financing for energy audits and retrofits. He's endorsed by the Democratic party and will also run on the Indpendence Party line. He has lived in Bedford since 1998 and has two children who attended Bedford schools who are now in college.

Chris Burdick, 60, is a senior vice president and chief underwriting counsel at Stewart Title Insurance Company has lived in Bedford for almost 20 years. He is endorsed by his party and is also running on the Independence, Conservative and Working Family party lines. He lives in Bedford with his wife, Illyria, and has three children who attended Bedford schools and are now in college.

Patch Q & A

Responses have been edited for style and length but not for substance.

Patch: What uniquely qualifies you to serve on the town board?

Burdick: My accomplishments as a member of the Town Board and perspective uniquely qualify me for re-election. I have initiated and served as the chair of two separate legislative groups that led to enactment of important environmental measures: A ridgeline protection ordinance to protect our most treasured ridgeline views and to protect against erosion and other degradation, and a Dark Skies ordinance to minimize unnecessary light pollution which destroys the beauty of our night skies, results in dangerous road glare and wastes energy. Both were adopted by the board. I have worked hard with my colleagues on the Town Board and helped reduce from over 5 percent to slightly over 2 percent the tax increases of the Town. We accomplished this in a difficult economic climate with drastically reduced revenues and escalating expenses and relentless unfunded mandates.  I have a strong record of which I am proud. 

Gabrielson: I’d never given any thought to running for office before being asked in 2007, and I’ve no goal of doing anything else in politics, but it’s been a tremendous honor and very gratifying to serve my neighbors and this community that we all love.  Besides the general life experiences of raising and helping support my family, I found that my career in municipal finance helped me understand Bedford’s fiscal needs, and I was able to work with our Comptroller and the Board to refinance bonds of the Town that saved us money.  My only term in office has been marked by great financial challenges for Bedford, and the experience navigating these tough times, cutting the Town’s rate of tax increase by nearly 60% while maintaining essential services that we need, is what best qualifies me to serve again.

Vander Linden: I will bring much-need fresh perspective to the board.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve been to over 40 board meetings.  I’ve seen large amounts of money being approved and spent and decisions on everything from new local laws to how many police officers to have at public events being made with little to no discussion.  Sometimes it seems like my opponents are going through the motions.  I don’t think that’s a good way to govern.  There needs to be more discussion.  More questioning.  I feel our unique small-town character is disappearing.  And I’ve met so many great people and heard a lot about what they think works and what doesn’t.  And I’ve been listening.  Many people feel like they haven’t been listened to by the current board.  Which is why I think my fresh perspective will be healthy for the board and the town.

Patch: The town board recently said it would aim to meet the two-percent property tax cap, but in its override of the state-imposed regulation.  Can you briefly explain why and under what circumstances you would approve a budget that went above the cap?  

Burdick: At the outset, and as we stated following the public hearing on the local law regarding the tax cap, I will be doing everything possible, as I have in the past, to hold taxes to the lowest possible level. Now that we have more concrete numbers available to us, such as 2012 health care costs and the State Comptroller’s advice of our 2012 surcharge to the pension fund, we expect to bring the 2012 Town budget under the cap. We are doing our utmost to accomplish that objective without slashing services. The tax cap is very complex with involved formula for determining the thresholds. In addition to the Town budget, each district is subject to the 2 percent cap—this brings us to the Consolidated Water District. The Town Board authorized the issuance of bonds to construct a water treatment plant on DEP property off Route 35. There is no allowance in the cap law, as our State Senator had thought, for capitalized expenses. The district’s tax is applied to pay the debt service on the bonds. The tax must be raised above the cap in order to meet the projected debt service.  We had three options: violate the cap; default on the bonds or adopt the local law, as we did, which allows us to exceed the cap.  

Gabrielson: We had to over-ride the new State cap to avoid defaulting on bonds we sold to finance the new water plant that will finally bring safe, high quality, soft water to Town water customers in Katonah and Bedford Hills.  Assessments to water district customers will rise more than 2 percent; we can’t break the law or default on bonds, but our 2012 budget for all other Town taxes and districts will be under the cap, or I won’t vote for it. Our goal, every year, is to find efficiencies and cost savings so any tax increase will be as small as possible.  In future years, it will be a challenge to remain under the cap for any period in which inflation exceeds 2 percent, without cutting services that our residents need.  Right now, that’s not a problem.

Vander Linden: The Tax Cap Override vote was a perfect example of why there needs to be a fresh perspective.  The vote was unanimous.  The board listened to – but didn’t really hear – the majority of people who came to speak out against the override.  Immediately after the hearing, they voted to override the cap as they had planned to all along. If I were my opponents and I thought this absolutely had to be done, it would have been the last thing I would have tried – not the first!  My opponents’ thoughts immediately go to how to preserve government.  I don’t live in that bubble.  I don’t have that mindset. I think about taxpayers first.  The only exception I would have made would be for the new water filtration plant and I would have written the law specifically to address that.  Not to give the board the blanket authority to raise taxes for anything they wish.

Patch: The town board has for council members and for those who serve on advisory committees and planning boards. What is your stance? 

Burdick: Just to clarify, as I recall, there were a few brief extemporaneous comments made when Peter Michaelis presented his views in the public comment of a Town Board meeting calling for term limits for boards and commissions.  He did not make any proposal, as I recall, for term limits for Town Board members.  I would have to give hard thought to it and have not decided, but do have reservations.  I am a great believer in the ballot box.  The voters may decide that I’ve been in office too long and vote me out. That’s their prerogative.  There is something fundamentally illogical about term limits for the Bedford Town Board, because it implies that the voters in Bedford, a well-educated and well-informed group indeed, are not capable of making the decision whether to retain or retire a Town Board member. Also term limits for a Town Board would require state enabling legislation.  As to advisory committees and permitting boards, I also have concerns. We have excellent committees and boards.  Our planning process is highly respected in the state.  We would lose the expertise and experience of the members of these boards because of a rigid set of term limits.   

Gabrielson: I’m not generally in favor of term limits because incumbency isn’t a great advantage in a Town race. Voters always have the ability to get rid of someone when they no longer feel they’re being well served.  It’s been suggested that we should have term limits for people who serve on our boards and commissions.  We’re incredibly fortunate that our neighbors are willing to serve on these important permitting and advisory boards.  I do think that we might consider a system that would allow people to serve multiple terms, but not have automatic re-appointments if there are other qualified residents who also want the chance to serve.  Honestly, there hasn’t been a great deal of sentiment expressed by the public broadly on this topic one way or the other. 

Vander Linden: Small towns like Bedford are set up to be governed by “citizen legislators.”  These are part time jobs.  Board members and advisory committee members are supposed to have full-time jobs during the day. This way, they’ll be more in touch with people not in the permanent government bureaucracy.  So, I definitely think those in elected and appointed positions should serve for a time and then step down and give someone else a voice. New voices and fresh perspectives should be encouraged in all areas of town government.  This is especially true with the appointed boards.  There’s no electoral process to remove them if the public wants something different.  If this doesn’t happen naturally, we should look into term limits.

Patch: Last year, the board briefly considered a proposal to create a dirt road district. What’s your take on dirt roads—preserve or pave? 

Burdick: It would be extremely expensive to pave the 30+ miles of dirt roads in Bedford—roughly $1,000,000 per mile. Dirt roads are not just for the benefit of horses and riders, they are part of the character and fabric of the town. Dirt roads are treasured by many who live on them—particularly owners of large estates who pay significant property taxes. If their dirt road were paved, they may conclude that Bedford was going the way of other highly developed communities and some may decide to sell to developers. Subdivision of the estates may create significant financial burdens for taxpayers. It cannot be assumed that subdivisions of such large tracts would generate sufficient additional property taxes to offset the significant increases in demand for the services which the community provides: schools, police and so forth.  One of the quality of life issues very frequently raised to the board is traffic, speed, volume, noise. Paving the roads would increase traffic as through-drivers find Bedford’s newly paved roads convenient.

Gabrielson: I’m opposed to a dirt road taxing district.  Bedford’s dirt roads add to its particular charm, and the Town’s Master Plan, adopted less than a decade ago (but before my tenure on the Board) identify them as a feature that most people in Town cherish and one they want to preserve.  They are expensive to maintain, but paving them would be enormously costly, with a very long break-even term.  I don’t think its fair to make people who live on dirt roads pay for their specific maintenance.  You either love them, hate them, or never think much about it one way or the other, but taxing people more because they live on a dirt road is not something I’d support.

Vander Linden: I have several friends in town that have very strong feelings about our dirt roads.  But the ones who actually live on dirt roads are who I would generally defer to.  They love their dirt roads.  To them, they’re rustic and remind them they live in the country.  So I don’t think those of us who don’t should tell people who do what kind of road they can live on.  And there are plenty of ways to get around without using a dirt road if you’re that against it.  It’s part of the character of Bedford.  So, I wouldn’t do anything to change that.

Check back tomorrow on Patch for more Q & A from your town board candidates. They'll discuss communications, sewers, seniors and open space, among other issues.