State of the Town: 2003
January 30, 2003
Cathryn C. Thomas
Webster Town Supervisor
Those of us who work in Webster Town Government enthusiastically look forward to a productive 2003, and are excited to share with you just a few of the projects that we know will keep us busy throughout the year. As always, our collective goal in Town Government is to continue to provide top-notch services, recognizing that our chief strength remains the ideas and commitment of our residents and employees to the community of Webster.
Town finances remain stable
Town finances, budgets and taxes continue to rank atop the list of local government issues Webster residents have concerns about. At the same time, Webster taxpayers have become accustomed to receiving an excellent level of service from their Town government. The challenge of meeting both -- sometimes opposing -- expectations is one the Town Board, Department Heads and employees constantly work in a cooperative effort to achieve. Webster residents get a big bang for their buck for what they pay in Town taxes. The average value home of $125,000 will pay $544 this year to cover costs for services provided by the Town. This amount includes:
- our wonderful new library;
- our own local, professionally accredited police department;
- our fantastic parks system;
- the widest variety of recreational program offerings for persons of all ages;
- our first-rate highway department, keeping our roads safe for travel throughout the year; and much, much more!
Webster's Town tax rate in 2003 is 15 cents lower than it was in 1993. This results from a team effort of Town personnel committed to controlled spending, careful budgeting and sound management of Town finances. Other major factors that have aided the Town in controlling our rate have been growth in assessed value and increased amounts received for revenues from sales tax and mortgage tax.
Just a few months ago, Moody's Investor Services conducted an extensive review of Town finances to confirm our official bond rating. The final result was Moody's confirming our continued A1 rating, that has great positive impacts on the Town's ability to borrow and receive very favorable interest rates.
In assigning the rating, Moody's cited the Town's stable financial performance, modest tax base growth, and a below average debt burden. Specifically, Moody's noted Webster's positive fiscal operations and a trend of ample reserve levels.
Host of projects slated for 2003
Our Town workforce will be as busy as ever this year with a number of improvement projects for our Webster community. Some of these projects include:
- the bulk of the work to be done on the Sandbar Sewer Project, that includes installation of a new Town sewer line, a new sewer line for the Pure Waters Department of Monroe County, and a new water line for the Monroe County Water Authority;
- finalizing the transfer of property on Picture Parkway that will be a donation from the Corp. to the Town of Webster
- conducting a Town-wide vote on the proposed Park property purchase for $1 million for four acres, that includes significant frontage on LakeOntario and Irondequoit Bay, to be held on Tuesday, March 25;
- continuing development of a revised proposal for open space preservation, that will look to preserve large tracts of land in various locations throughout Webster;
- continuing work on a Town-wide reassessment, where all Webster properties will be considered to have new values to go into effect in 2004;
- construction work on Ridge Road to relocate the Schroeder High School drive to align with the new drive for the St. Ann's project, that will include a new traffic signal for the four-way intersection (eliminating the old light at the current High School drive);
- working with State Department of Transportation officials seeking approval for development of a north/south access road to be constructed next to Lowes and St. Ann's, between Five Mile Line and Hard Roads, connecting Route 104 and Ridge Road;
- completion of changes to the Town's Zoning Ordinance to match our Comprehensive Plan, including the adoption of a revised Zoning Map, for which a public hearing will be held on February 20;
- continuing work on records management, including completion of construction of our new records storage center in a portion of our space at the Webster Plaza
It is inspiring, to look back over the past year and take note of the many accomplishments achieved through the tireless efforts of our team of Town employees and our wonderful army of citizen volunteers. At the same time, it is somewhat daunting to look forward to the year ahead at all the projects to be worked on, and many hopefully completed.
One constant, however, I predict will remain as it has through the years. The year 2003 will go whizzing by in what seems like an instant, and we'll look back then and say, wow look at all we've done, and look at everything we have to do for 2004!