Cazenovia — The state of the Cazenovia area is good and continues to improve, although there are always challenges along the way. This was the message received by about 30 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 Cazenovia Country Club, 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 State Assemblyman for the 121st District Bill Magee; Darryl Aubertine on behalf of the state comptroller’s office; Cazenovia Town Councilor Pat Race for Supervisor Bill Zupan; Fenner Town Supervisor Dave Jones; Nelson Town Supervisor Roger Bradstreet; Cazenovia Mayor Kurt Wheeler; Cazenovia Central School District Superintendent Matthew Reilly; and Cazenovia College Vice President for Marketing and Communications Tim Greene.

Invited but unable to attend was State Senator for the 53rd District David Valesky.

The moderator for the evening was GCACC President Jessica Amidon.

“We had an exciting year in 2015,” Amidon said during her welcome remarks.

She said the second annual Fall festival was a “huge success” last year and the Franklin Car Show had more than 1,000 people attend. 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 summer and winter farmers markets in Cazenovia had more than 8,000 visitors between them.

Highlights of the event:

•Magee said Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recently released budget for 2016 is out and “I can assure you, a lot of people are not very happy with it.” He said the governor’s proposal to not eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment — which takes state aid funding away from public schools in order to fund other aspects of state government — is “something we’ll have to deal with.” Magee also said he is working hard on agriculture issues and doing whatever he can to “keep farmers farming,” including the creation of a new fund to help first time farmers operate.

continued — •Aubertine offered many numbers concerning state fiscal health. He said the economy of New York state as a whole is “in much better condition than it was a few years ago;” and that private sector jobs increased by 800,000 in the state last year — although 550,000 of those were in New York City. “There are regions of the state that aren’t as robust as New York City, and that’s a concern,” he said.

•Wheeler said the village has been making strides in infrastructure, planning and partnerships. He said the village is trying to be proactive rather than reactive in terms of village planning and economic development, such as in its creation of the Lakeland Park Master Plan for park improvements, the Creekside redevelopment initiative and the Village Edge South design guidelines.

Wheeler praised the ongoing construction of the new hotel at Village Edge South and the Empire Farmstead Brewery on Rippleton Road, and said the two projects represent a $15 million investment into the village last year alone. “It’s very exciting, not just for our village but for the area as a whole,” he said. “It’s going to be an economic engine for our whole region.”

Wheeler also praised the “positive, cooperative relationships that we all have here in this room,” saying the fact that local, regional and state officials can work together and not get mired in petty squabbles is a benefit to the entire region. He said he was particularly excited about the new — “reborn” — relationship between the village and the college since last summer, when the previous president left the school. “I really want to reinvent that relationship,” Wheeler said.

“When we work together, there is nothing we can’t do and I am really excited about the state of the area,” he said.

•Reilly began his remarks by recognizing the excellence of Cazenovia school district teachers and students, academically and athletically, and listed the various accomplishments of the past year. The bulk of his remarks, however, concerned the governor’s budget and the state’s failure, again, to eliminate the GEA, or what he called the “inequitable and insufficient” funding of state aid to school districts.

continued — Reilly said that if the governor’s budget proposal goes forward as it is, the Cazenovia district will receive less state aid than it did last year. Couple that with increasing costs, unfunded mandates and the penalizing state tax cap, and the Cazenovia district will be in trouble. “This is not nearly enough to maintain the outstanding programs … that you expect and the kids deserve,” he said. “Our expenses are increasing … this will not get it done.”

Reilly urged everyone in the audience to “mobilize” again, as many did last year, and support the school district by writing to the governor’s office and demanding the elimination of the GEA and the equitable funding for the Cazenovia school district.

•Race, Jones and Bradstreet reviewed the achievements and challenges in their towns during the past year in areas such as budgeting, infrastructure, economic growth and modernization. Cazenovia is improving drainage around the lake and undertaking a digitization of its town records; Fenner has switched from manual to electronic bookkeeping and is working towards implementing solar energy projects in the town; while Nelson is showing economic growth in the number of new businesses moving into the town.

•Greene said the college’s big news is the hiring of Ronald Chesbrough, Ph.D., currently the president of St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, Mo., as its 29th president. Chesbrough was chosen after a seven-month search process out of an initial pool of 90 candidates. He will start his new position on July 1. The college is also looking to complete the reconstruction of the Jephson Campus buildings on Albany Street by the end of this summer, Greene said.