LETTER: Lysander spray park funding should be decided by voters

To the editor:

I am writing this letter to let the citizens and taxpayers of the Town of Lysander know that at the Jan. 18 Lysander Town Board Meeting, our town board voted to approve issuing up to $400,000 in bonds to pay for a spray park at the Lysander Town Park on Smokey Hollow Road. This was added to the agenda only the day before the town board meeting, allowing little to no time for anyone to attend and ask about this project. While the town board still needs concrete numbers to know the exact amount they would need for the spray park, the clock has started for the citizens of Lysander to have the opportunity to decide if this project is in the best interest of Lysander.

Let me state that I am neither for nor against the spray park, but I am against how the Lysander Town Board proposes to pay for it. They have stated that they want to use roughly $100,000 of the $200,000 from the “in lieu of parks fee” account, and will possibly get another $100,000 in a grant from New York state. This still leaves the town of Lysander taxpayers “on the hook” for the remaining estimated $280,000. This is a very large expense and I believe the entire town should have the opportunity to decide if this is right for our community. In my opinion, there are a lot of “loose ends” that have not been reconciled to approve the issuance of bonds for this project. The residents and taxpayers deserve to know concrete numbers, and the petition process will allow this to occur.

Unfortunately the time of year that the town board has decided to pass this also makes it difficult to pass petitions. Myself and others will be passing petitions in the next few weeks to require this to be put to a vote for the registered voters in the town of Lysander. If you would like to sign the petition to give our community the opportunity to decide if this project should move forward, please email me at [email protected], or you can find me on Facebook at Rode For-Progress.

I urge residents to call or email our Lysander Town Board and ask our elected officials their opinion of this project, and ask how they could ask the taxpayers of our community to take on an additional tax burden, with little to no input.