The partisan politics of Washington are as bad and gridlocking as they look, and the governor’s politics in Albany are crippling the finances of our school district and endangering our children’s education.

These were the two major messages received by about 50 area residents last week during the annual State of the Area event sponsored by the Greater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce.

The event, held this year at The Nelson Odeon, offered local residents a chance to hear updates from, as well as ask questions to, their local, regional, state and national elected officials on a variety of topics. Attending the meeting were U.S. Congressman for the 22nd district Richard Hanna, Cazenovia Town and Madison County Supervisor Bill Zupan, Fenner Town Supervisor Dave Jones, Nelson Town Supervisor Roger Bradstreet, Cazenovia Central School District Superintendent Matthew Reilly and Cazenovia College Vice President for Marketing and Communications Wayne Westervelt.

Invited but unable to attend were State Senator for the 53rd District David Valesky, State Assemblyman for the 121st District Bill Magee and Cazenovia Mayor Kurt Wheeler.

The moderator for the evening was GCACC President Jessica Amidon.

“It’s hard to believe a full year has passed since the last state of the area,” Amidon said during her welcome remarks. “Throughout the year at the chamber we have had a lot of changes.”

She said 2014 saw a doubling in the size of the Cazenovia Farmers Market as well as the inauguration of the chamber’s Fall Festival, which was “a big hit.” In addition, the annual summer concert series saw more than 10,000 visitors, the Christmas Walk and Tree Lighting had more than 1,000 visitors and the various Historic Cazenovia Business District events continued to be successful.

Hanna, a recently reelected two-term congressman, began the evening explaining his achievements in office, his philosophy of constituent services and the climate he faces in Washington.

“Washington in many ways is as bad as it looks — very partisan,” he said. “If you feel like we’re not getting a lot done, you’re right.”

In response to a question about government spending, Hanna said the government cannot sustain itself by spending $1 trillion more than it takes in. He said he voted against a government shutdown because “you don’t do it by shutting down the government,” while one “big driver” of the national debt is health care.

“Congress is bad at saying ‘No,’” he said, but to fix the current economic issues Congress must work to grow the economy, to look at how to provide health care over long periods of time, clean up the tax code and that America “must become competitive again.”

As for state politics, Reilley said the state’s Gap Elimination Adjustment — which has taken more than $6 million in state aid away from Cazenovia — and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s conspicuous absence of the subject in his State of the State remarks last week, continues the dire financial straits facing the Cazenovia district this year. If nothing changes this year, Cazenovia will lose $925,000 in state aid.

“I want it back; we need it back,” he said. “There is not enough money in our reserves to weather the storm that seems to be upon us.”

There are only two ways for the district to fix its current financial plight, Reilley said: One way is to receive increased state financial assistance, and the other — and much more likely scenario currently because of the lack of the first — is a reduction in spending so severe that the cuts “will take away opportunities for our kids.”

Reilley said potential cuts have not been itemized by the district yet, but, after five years of cutting all non-essential items from the budget, this year any cuts will have to be to major district offerings.

“I implore you to inform our state representatives how dire this is in Cazenovia and the money owed to us, and remind them that they have the money. There is no better investment than educating our students well,” he said. “I have never been as proud to be associated with an educational institution as Cazenovia, and I’ve never been so worried for the future of our students as I am this year.”

Zupan, Jones and Bradstreet all said their towns were working hard to address citizens’ needs and keep taxes low, while Wheeler, who sent a message read by Amidon, said although there were challenges to face, he was optimistic about the future of the village because of the “significant economic development initiatives” currently ongoing, such as the upcoming hotel and Empire Farmstead Brewery.

Westervelt said Cazenovia College is continuing on a positive path, retaining students “better than we ever had before,” seeing increases in applications, creating partnerships with other colleges and universities and moving forward with its plans to renovate the Jephson Campus on Albany Street.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].