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Chatham mayor quits space-sharing committee

Dec 28, 2016 6:30 am

Emilia Teasdale is reporting in The Columbia Paper Chatham village Mayor Tom Curran has resigned from a joint committee on space sharing at the Tracy Memorial Village Hall. Town Supervisor Maria Lull told The Columbia Paper she hoped Curran would reconsider and rejoin the committee. She said the idea behind the two municipalities sharing the space is about “efficiencies and economics.” In his letter of resignation from the committee, Curran wrote, “After hearing a great deal of talk about having the town and village work together, it was quite distressing to hear that the Town Board chose to add more line items to the portion of the budget funded through taxes paid by village residents…. When the town budget gets to where the village is being taxed fairly by the town, I will be happy to resume work on that committee. I cannot in good conscience work together with the town when our village residents are being taxed unfairly.” The historic Tracy Memorial on Main Street is owned by the Village Board and houses the village offices, court and police. The Town Board rents the second floor for the town court and court offices. The two municipalities formed the committee last spring to begin looking at ways to share the space. In a statement issued in response to Curran's letter, Lull addressed issues with the Tracy Memorial and needed renovation to the building. She said the town and village could work together to share the expenses on upkeep for the building. “The slight tax increase for village residents should not be a reason to walk away from our responsibilities to the Tracy and to the taxpayers, there is too much to lose,” she wrote. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.