Hello to all you Good Republicans.
by Russell Liebler, Club President

On Thursday, January 5, 2006 a new page was turned for the Town of East Fishkill. Our Elected Officials were each sworn in for their respective terms of office. This new page brings to an end the many years of service and guidance of Town Supervisor, Peter Idema. Pete has put his fingerprint on East Fishkill for the past 10 years and as a result has been a respected force in the growth of the Town. We look forward to the Town's continued prosperity under the guidance of our new Town Supervisor, John Hickman.

Our new officials sworn in for their Town Offices on January 5 were:

Our re-elected Town Justice, William Gee, was not available on the evening of January 5 and would be sworn in at a later date.

Our County Legislators were also sworn in that evening, with the following taking their oath; Mary Swartz, District 12, Alison McAvery, District 16 and; Marge Horton, District 21. Unfortunately David Kelly, District 23 was unable to attend and would be sworn in at a later time.

We would like to express our congratulations to all of our elected officials and wish them a consistently high degree of wisdom and intelligence.

Our Holiday Party held on December 7 was a big hit. The Staff at Harrald's Restaurant made us all feel very warm and welcomed. We were fed a first class dinner at a first class restaurant with a good time being had by all. If you are looking to have a meal in a unique setting that will please your palate I can recommend Harrald's.

Our next Club meeting is scheduled for January 25, 8PM at the Town Library. This will be an important meeting as we will update the membership on the Marti Gras Party, discuss the future plans for our fundraising and discuss a slate of officers for 2006. The election will be held at our regular club meeting February 22, 8PM at the Town Library. Please attend both the January and February meetings.

As was noted in our last newsletter, our fundraising committee has been hard at work and has set an aggressive 2006 schedule of activities so that we will be ready for what we will face in the next two election cycles. Please be sure to attend and support us in the following:

Watch for more information in future newsletters.

As a reminder, club dues are due on January 1 each year. Since this is the last newsletter before the New Year please make a note and send your 2006 dues to the address on the membership form below. Also if there is anyone you know that would like to help promote our Republican values have them complete the form below and return it to us to join the East Fishkill Republican Club.

Notes from the County Executive

Dutchess County government practices careful, conservative management of our fiscal responsibilities. Our 2006 budget reflects our concern about the tax impact on residents and local businesses. Our success is achieved because we practice Republican leadership philosophy, values, and ideals and, importantly, we have a terrific management team and outstanding group of employees.

According to preliminary data, our county government property tax rate is one of the lowest among 57 counties in New York. Our 2006 budget produced a 10% decrease in the countywide full value tax rate. Our tax rate is also lower today than 1993 when I first prepared a county budget. Also since 1993, the growth of taxes levied in other taxing jurisdictions has far outpaced that of county government. We have had 10 tax cuts in 14 Steinhaus budgets! The county’s property tax levy totals less than 22% of the County’s constitutional taxing limit and we spend 20% less per capita than other similar-sized counties.

Further, to show how effective Republican management is – we have fewer employees today than when I became County Executive although our mission and the demands to help local residents have greatly expanded. We have a growing senior population, more families expecting services, more infrastructure challenges and a more expensive criminal justice and public safety system. Yet, the 2006 budget actually cuts spending compared to the total dollars spent in 2005.

We continually reinvent and reform county government and consolidate, realign and restructure our systems, while earning statewide recognition and national awards.

While we promote Republican values inside county government, we also promote an aggressive jobs and business development effort. We work daily to expand our tax base creating the economic fuel to pay for services to residents. New businesses and thousands of new jobs have been created. That’s why our policies helped grow the tax base $4.7 billion dollars in 2005 and $2 billion in 2004!

Please contact me with any ideas to improve county government or to help make our local economy stronger. Thanks for helping achieve these successes.

William R. Steinhaus, Dutchess County Executive.

 
Essential Links:

East Fishkill Web site

County Legislators

Dutchess County Republican Committee

New York State Republican Committee

National Republican Committee