About 30 people attended the event, which was organized by the Eagle Bulletin newspaper and the village of Fayetteville.
Each candidate was asked two questions, and had two minutes to state their response with no rebuttals.
Town supervisor candidates include Republican Ed Theobald and incumbent, Democrat Mark Tetley.
Those running for the three available councilor seats include Democrat Marc Baum, Democrat Larissa Brenner, Republican Vince Giordano, Republican Karen Green incumbent Republican Dave Marnell and Democrat Tom Reitano.
The questions and summarized answers are as follows:
Candidates for town councilor
Q: What do you see as the defining issues of the campaign?
Baum: Shared services, including the Department of Public Works, the Highway Department and the Fire Department. A long-term fiscal plan is necessary to provide the best services at lower costs, while maintaining the town’s quality of life.
Brenner: The tax burden. Lower-cost shared services and grants from the state and federal governments to conduct infrastructure projects can help this problem. Creating a business-friendly environment and establishing an even tax base is also crucial.
Giordano: Consolidating duplicate efforts through shared services. The town already has some of the top school systems in the country, so the focus should be on maintaining the quality of life and keeping residents here.
Green: Long term fiscal management and business retention. These are crucial elements in keeping taxes down.
Marnell: Shared services throughout the county, town and villages. The fact that the town is fiscally conservative also contributes to the tax rate.
Reitano: Budget spending. It’s necessary to coordinate and share decisions on how to spend the tax payer money.
Q: Which shovel-ready projects should receive stimulus funding?
Baum: The fire department renovations, the proposed CSX hub, and the Price Chopper Center.
Brenner: The town’s drainage and mitigation issues, as well as the CSX hub. The town needs to reach out to the state and federal governments for more grants to complete these projects.
Giordano: The flooding issues in the Wetstone area need to be addressed and cleaned up. Funding can also be used for the intermodal CSX hub and rehabilitating vacant commercial property.
Green: The flooding issues and business retention. Fixing up empty commercial space is something everyone can also benefit from.
Marnell: Making repairs to current infrastructure, buying building materials in bulk and funding engineering studies. Addressing drainage issues is also important.
Reitano: Infrastructure that makes sense. Some may like the ideas and some may hate them, but the board needs to be brave enough to make these decisions.
Candidates for town supervisor
Q: What are the defining issues of the campaign?
Tetley: Lowering taxes and increasing the tax base. The town has so many projects lined up, it’s about moving forward and completing them. Bringing back young people and retaining current residents is also important, and can be achieved by maintaining the town’s quality of life.
Theobald: Balancing the budget and increasing the tax base wisely. Keeping taxes down to encourage residents to stay while maintaining the quality of life in Manlius is also crucial.
Q: What is the comprehensive plan? Is it good or bad?
Tetley: The town doesn’t have a comprehensive plan. Many say the comprehensive plan is the town’s codebook. All the vacant and undeveloped land needs to be examined, and zone regulations need to be tightened. If residents would like to keep green space, then the town needs to work to maintain it.
Theobald: I was unaware there is no comprehensive plan, and have been unable to find out if there is a town charter. The town supervisor plays the role of the executive and financial officers, and the unfunded mandates passed down from the state to towns and villages makes it challenging to deal with budgetary concerns.
Those in attendance also included Rob Cushing for highway superintendent, and unopposed candidates Allison Edsall, town clerk; Laura Peschel, receiver of taxes and Bob O’Leary, town justice.
The formal questioning was followed by an audience question and answer period, where issues such as the ongoing dispute surrounding The Bluff’s, drainage, no comprehensive plan, increasing the tax base and additional comments on shared services were addressed.
County-wide general elections will be held Tuesday Nov. 3.
