STATE OF THE TOWN MESSAGE 2004

Good evening ladies and gentlemen…

Tonight I have the honor of delivering my fourth State of the Town Address.

This is a particularly gratifying opportunity to share with you some of the accomplishments of the past year and our vision of the future…

Last week, as you probably already know, Money Magazine, the largest financial management publication in the world, with a readership of over eight million people worldwide - named the Town of Ramapo the second most desirable Town to live on the East Coast. The only Town in New York State and the only Town north of the Mason-Dixon Line. First, was Cary, North Carolina, Town of Ramapo, Coral Gables, Florida and Alexandria, Virginia.

This is wonderful news for our community and reflects the commitment of all our residents, businesses, hospitals, schools and dedication of Town staff and the hard work of all municipal officials in our Town.

We will celebrate this great recognition throughout the coming year and we will continue to promote the positive aspects of our diverse community. The ranking is a reflection of some of the major initiatives the Town Board has undertaken relating to our environment, economic stability, public health and safety, culture and recreation, technology and workforce modernization and community outreach.

As a lifelong resident of Ramapo, I have witnessed incredible growth in our Town, from 10,000 people in the 1950's to 110,000 people today. I have watched my own backyard change from a wooded wonderland to the Bon-Aire Condominium Complex. Many fields, forests and small country lanes have been transformed into bustling streets and housing for all our new residents over the past five decades.

So my friends, tonight I am thankful that with the help of this Town Board, this administration has aggressively set a plan to acquire open space, the Town Board has already increased the Town dedicated Parkland acreage by 30% with a plan to protect thousands of more acres for open space.

Together, we have addressed the land use issues facing our Town from the Comprehensive Plan to the fair and equitable revaluation of our 26,000 tax parcels.

First, our Comprehensive Plan preserves open space, protects our watershed, while preserving existing neighborhoods and revitalizing our central business districts of Spring Valley, Monsey and Suffern.

Through the redevelopment of brownfields like the Faber Cement Property into new architecturally attractive housing for first time home buyers.

Through the direct efforts of this Board to keep Avon in Suffern, with the building of the 100 million-dollar World Research and Development Headquarters with 354 new jobs, the saving of the Lafayette Theater and utilizing for our Town the Classic Film Festival for seniors, and promoting this theater to be our economic engine for future growth, this Town Board and in particular, Councilman Harry Reiss removed the devastating potential of disaster with the storage of 340,000 lbs. of liquid propane in the heart of the Village of Suffern. Our new goal this year is to create the Town of Ramapo Cultural Arts Center on Main Street in Spring Valley. Real dollars are being invested in our Town, through these revitalization projects, and more; like our new Riverfront Park in the Torne Valley on the old brownfield site of the sand and gravel pit. This year, that old sand and gravel pit will be transformed into a Community Center.

We have stopped the Power Plants and Quarries, now we will take the next step of bringing young and old into the Valley to enjoy the Riverfront Park, and our new Recreational opportunities.

State dollars will be invested across our Town, eight million-dollar improvements to Route 59 from sidewalks to improved traffic patterns and slip ramps. Three million dollars for sidewalk improvements to Route 306 and $700,000 of Federal dollars to install new sidewalks for Slinn Avenue and Ewing Avenue to Ronald and West Central and Blauvelt Avenue as well. 1.8 million dollars of State funds to build the new PAL Multi-generational Building with a gymnasium, crafts and senior rooms at Herb Reisman Sports Complex which will house many of our 25 senior citizen clubs during the day and many of our 42,000 kids in the afternoon and evening. $680,000 of Federal T-21 Transportation dollars to create a Greenway Trail from Mahwah to Suffern to Hillburn to our Waterfront Park, and in Phase II, a connection to Tuxedo and the Orange County Trails. Residents will be able to bicycle or walk from Oakland. N.J. to Orange County along the Ramapo River. These funds will also purchase additional properties along the River south of the wellfields.

Grants and donations to our Ramapo Park Foundation will create the Ramapo Arboretum in our newly dedicated Park of 155 acres in Wesley Hills.

Private capital will rebuild Avon in Suffern, and private capital will redevelop the now vacant American Tack Building in Monsey.

100 million dollars of Federal, State and local funds will construct the Western Ramapo Sewer Extension Project to protect the water source for all of Rockland County. The advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility will process the effluent from the now failing septic system in Hillburn and Sloatsburg into recycled clean water at a rate of 1.5 million gallons per day.

Our concerns for water flow is just one of the flows we will be addressing - we will also address traffic and drainage flows.

In conjunction with our 8 million dollar State 59 Improvements, we have applied to the Federal Government for a $900,000 Grant to create a pedestrian walk from Monsey Glen Park to Spring Valley on the old Con-Rail right-of-way, we are acquiring the Old Route 59 by-pass from Saddle River Road to Old Nyack Turnpike for Parkland and a Park & Ride for Rockland County. We have applied for federal dollars to study the entire Route 59 Corridor. We will implement the 5-9 Summit to coordinate with Federal, State, County and local officials and agencies to improve the traffic flow, in particular on the 18 miles of roadway on Route 17 from Tuxedo to Hillburn and Route 59 from Hillburn to spring Valley. We have already arranged and agreed to fund improvements to the 14B Exit of the NYS Thruway.

We will participate in several new and old drainage projects.

First, we will help the 250 homeowners in the Pine Grove area of Sloatsburg. These residents faced with a DEC order to fix the dam with no money available. We will create the Pine Grove Drainage Improvement District, this will allow these homeowners to qualify for Federal and State Grants and Bonds through the Town to pay to fix the dam on the upper lake.

Secondly, we will work to have the County of Rockland begin and complete the Pascack Brook Project in Spring Valley.

We will begin and continue other infrastructure improvements such as: the installation of new sewage pipe that will double the capacity from the Fanley Wood Interceptor in Monsey, the completion of the Potake Pond connector to the Ramapo River for flow augmentation so our wellfields will be less susceptible to suspension of operation and the acquisition of the Tilcon Quarry in Suffern with the dual role of water augmentation for the Ramapo River Wellfields and the ability for water retention to mitigate the flooding in the Squires Gate area.

Our first steps in Watershed Protection were accomplished in 2003 with the purchase of the Ramapo wellfield property, and now our watershed will be further protected by the Dedication Parkland Protection Zone in our Comprehensive Plan, which will ultimately protect 1450 of the 1550 acres in the Torne Valley. The removal of the Industrial Zones in the Torne Valley and the establishment of the Critical Environmental Area Designation is historic and demonstrates environmental leadership for the rest of Rockland County. In Ramapo we will not build on steep slopes and ridge-tops like Pomona, Stony Point and Mahwah. As Frank Lloyd Wright said “Ridge-tops are to look at not build upon.”

Our new Open Space Committee will recommend and evaluate properties and we will purchase lands for future generations. The Town has zoning responsibility for 30% of the Town, the Villages have the remaining 70%. In the past ten years, the Village growth has been four times faster in the Villages than in Unincorporated Ramapo. Although we have zoning responsibility for 30% of the Town, this Town Board is concerned with the entire Town; that is why we are aggressively buying lands in Unincorporated Ramapo and in the Villages. 230 acres Johnsontown Road, 30 acres Eckerson Farm, Orchards of Conklin on the County level, wellfields, Torne Valley, Ramapo River, Kearsing Parkway & Route 306, By-pass property, horse stables, Mobrey Clarke at the Town level and Day Camp in Pomona, Grandview & Spook Rock, Cutler Mansion in Montebello, Stonegate in Suffern, Route 45 and Red Schoolhouse in Chestnut Ridge. I invite all residents to recommend properties to be evaluated by the Open Space Committee.

I do not agree with the Conference of Ramapo Mayors who wrote to me “they are not interested in open space purchases and want lands to be tax ratable.” I reject this thinking, with their logic we would have accepted $200 million dollars from American National Power and built the Power Plant. We want to strike the proper balance, which is why later I will discuss a new initiative on sustainability. 50% of Ramapo is parkland, this Board is going to protect 1000's more acres in 2004.

This Town Board has listened and revised, revamped and redefined a great Master Plan, a plan crafted with time, thought, leadership and creativity, a plan that I am proud of - a plan that has been long in coming, a plan 36 years in the waiting. Go online www.ramapo.org and read for yourself. A Mayor recently told me he was against the Plan and I asked him which parts don't you like and the Mayor stated, “Well I haven't read it, but I don't like it.” Another resident stated, no houses on Patrick Farm, I asked where do you live? Powderhorn Drive in Wesley Hills was the response. I explained that Powderhorn Drive was an area I hiked before Wesley Hills became a Village. Wesley Hills developed that mountain so you could have a place to live. Powderhorn Drive goes into the Patrick Farm property so its okay to build for you but our Plan can't recommend single family homes on one acre. I invite everyone to read the Plan, remove all the histrionics, misinformation and fear and educate yourself to the true goals of this Plan - to protect, preserve and revitalize our Town.

Our second major initiative is revaluation. The Town of Ramapo is dedicated to a fair and equitable evaluation of all our properties. We fought Sabre Corporation hired by the County and their inferior product which was flawed with errors, but we have always supported the Reval from the start and are 100% committed to a fair and equitable Reval today. Our Town Attorney, Michael Klein and Town Assessor Scott Shedler have crafted the proposal for the County to move forward and presented the “Request for Proposal” for the County. But more importantly, we as a Town have worked to ameliorate the inequities. This past year, Michael Klein, Scott Shedler and our Utility expert and Town resident Bernie Kushner have crafted a landmark settlement and created a new framework depreciation of utility properties, setting a floor at 20% of value versus .05% floor previously in place and setting a framework for true evaluation and inventory for all utility properties. This historic settlement with Con Edison ended certiorari cases going back seven years, saving $10 million dollars for our School districts and $100 thousands of dollars for our Villages. More importantly, this new framework removes all future certioraris for the 150 utility properties in the Town assessed at $350,000,000 dollars. We will now take this team and expertise of our Staff and expand it to perform a systematic analysis for every parcel in Ramapo. We have hired Bob Hilbert, the prominent analyst for Reval in New York State as our special consultant and we have hired additional data collectors, new software to perform our systematic analysis - we will present our detailed plan, timetables and dollar allocations on February 1, 2004. We will have fair and equitable assessments in Ramapo with or without the County. We are firmly committed to this process, our actions prove it and we will be successful.

My friends, the State Comptroller regularly audits the Towns in NYS for budgets, technology advancement and procedures, tax collection as well as assessments. The results of these audits are consistent. The Town of Ramapo is always rated BEST! In most cases, other Towns are asked to emulate Ramapo's procedures. We have reality Budgets, we have the highest Bond Rating in the County, we have the best efficiency rating in our Receiver of Taxes Office. At our last meeting, the State Comptroller's Office asked if the Town could put together a team from our various departments to tour NYS and present seminars to help educate other Towns on Best practices and procedures. Two years ago, I told you we have the most desirous Town in NYS and now Money Magazine agrees and has chosen Ramapo as the second most desirous Town on the East Coast.

I have always known how great Ramapo is, I love this Town and I am most proud that a financial magazine agrees, because we work hard to promote the financial health of Ramapo. Every year we visit Wall Street and the rating agencies to promote Ramapo in order to get the best and high Bond Rating we enjoy. High Bond Ratings mean low interest payments on our Bonds which translates into taxpayer savings everyday. We have refinanced our debt over the last three years to save millions of dollars. In the prospectus published by Wall Street on the front page in bold letter it states 80% of Ramapo's long-term debt is retired in ten years. That's why we paid only 3.47% in interest for our last Bond offering.

That's why we can develop the best park system in New York State, with our Town pools, our nationally ranked Golf Course, our new Sports Complex, the home of the New York State Little League Champions, the Ramapo Little League, and now our new PAL Building and our Riverfront Park, along with our new Arboretum and existing pocket parks throughout the Town.

We have the best programmatic Recreation Department in New York, providing camps and educational programs for 6,000 kids each summer, our Sidekicks Program, our new Academy of Lifelong Learning in each of our School Districts and now later this month our new portable stage to bring cultural programs directly into each of our neighborhoods.

We have a Police force second to none, for three years we have documented and established procedures for all contingencies which will result in an accreditation in April of this year.

In 2004, we will continue our efforts to reflect the diversity of our community in our Police force, since 2000 we have hired 4 African-American, 2 Haitian-American and 6 women Officers and promoted additional female Officers to Sergeant. Tonight, I will tell you that on May 8th of this year, we will promote the first female Officer to Lieutenant - A first in the history of Rockland County and also promote our first female Detective.

Our force is a Community Policing force. We have Resource Officers in all our Schools, DARE Officers, Canine Officers, Community Policing Officers, Vehicle and Traffic Safety Division, Commercial Vehicle Task Force Enforcement, Youth Services Bureau, Rescuing Our Youth, Youth Academy, Citizen Academy, the Best Marksman in NYS, DWI Unit, defibrillators and Computers in all of our Police cars, a seat on the Terrorism Task Force in NYC and a Detective Bureau that is continually breaking hard cases and proving the dedication of all of our Officers everyday.

There are three areas where this Town will focus additional expertise.

Town of Ramapo-Sustainable Energy Coordinator

Objectives:

Senior Citizen Service Enhancement Program

Designed to compliment and enhance services offered to senior citizens of the Town of Ramapo. The Services Enhancement Program (SEP) is designed to assess and address current unmet needs and to design and implement a program to reach out to senior citizens who do not currently participate in club activities.

Services to be rendered:

Water Assessment Coordinator & Keeper

All aspects of Storm Water Run-off recharge, point source pollution and assessment of habitat, water quality buffer, vegetation, inventory and assessment of both the Ramapo and Mahwah Watershed Basin.

In 2004, we will partner with Attorney General Elliot Spitzer with all cost paid by the Attorney General Officer to pursue the polluters of the Ramapo Landfill to recoup monies from the polluters which will be used for further enhancements and remediation of the environment. This partnership will be at no cost to the local taxpayers.

We will also access money from the State Superfund Site to clean the five sites presently on the Superfund Priority List.

We will continue to cut expenditures and increase revenue sources rather than relying on the property taxes, such as the Arboretum which will access Grants and donations through the Ramapo Parks Foundation, a not-for-profit group. As part of our Arboretum Project, we will plan for defense of our Town from the Asian Longhorn Beetle and educate our population to look for signs of this beetle. We will celebrate our historic by-ways through the promotion of the Rochambeau Trail's upcoming 225th anniversary.

We will continue to respect our Veterans, with events at our new Veterans Memorial Pavilion and honor those Veterans interned in our cemeteries by rehabilitating gravestones throughout the Town.

And tonight let us not forget all the young men and women from our Town who are in harms way. Let us be thankful for their brave service, as we are for our dedicated firemen and emergency service workers and ambulance corps volunteers protecting our property and our lives. If you don't personally know anyone overseas then look at the Wall of Heroes as you leave this evening. Study the faces of our young soldiers, visit one of our five ambulance corps to see the youth and professionalism of each corps, volunteer at your local firehouse or just stop by and say thanks.

And finally, we will continue to deliver services and programs for all of our citizens, celebrate our diversity together, support our Twinning Programs, help your neighbors, visit our website and explore our Government without walls, remember the twenty families who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001.

God Bless you all and God Bless America.

Christopher P. St. Lawrence

Supervisor, Town of Ramapo

Dated: January 7, 2004