Justice court
Jonathan Katz (D).
Richard LaRose (R).
Voters will also have to decide if long-time town court justice Jonathan Katz will keep the job he’s had since the mid-1990s. Katz, a Democrat, is being challenged by lawyer Richard LaRose, a Republican.
LaRose thinks the way the court runs could be improved by making the experience more “user friendly” — both in terms of how people access court information online and here in the physical world.
Katz likes the way the courts are running, however, he still sees challenges for handicapped access to the courthouse — despite some Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades made a few years ago.
Highway superintendent
Chris Marx (D, I WF).
Fred Vitarius (R).
Highway superintendent Chris Marx took on a lot more duties in the last two years than what is expected of or called for from a highway department head. Marx manages a merged highway/buildings & grounds department, while also acting as an appointed water commissioner for the town.
Marx also runs the audio for Town Board meetings. For all that heavy lifting, he receives a $19,500 stipend on top of his base pay of $43,000 — bringing his total salary up to $62,500. He’s endorsed by the Democrats.
Fred Vitarius, backed by the Republicans, is a former Ulster County Highways & Bridges Department employee who thinks he could tackle the job of the highway superintendent. He’s open to retaining the dual department model that Marx currently manages.
Marx would like to focus on keeping the road repairs on schedule — preventative maintenance to avoid patchwork fixes later on. He’d also like to address flooding and stormwater run-off throughout New Paltz, as well as updating the water meter system to better find leaks throughout town.
Vitarius wants to work with county officials to fix up the Carmine Liberta Bridge, work with surrounding municipalities to save money, reduce soil erosion and keep snow removal products out of the water.
Ulster County Legislature
Ken Wishnick (D, WF).
Butch Dener (C, I).
New Paltzians will also get a chance to vote on one of two Ulster County Legislature races on Nov. 5 as well.
For voters living on the outer fringes of New Paltz — outside of the village core in District 17 — they’ll see Ken Wishnick (D, WF) running against Butch Dener (C, I), the former New Paltz Republican Party chairman.
Wishnick, finishing up his freshman term up in Kingston, is a well-known realtor in town and a former New Paltz Town Board member.
Dener served on the town’s Planning Board during the 1990s. He was an advocate of the controversial New Paltz Wal-Mart, which never got built.
Dener’s running to give voters a choice in the heavily Democratic District 17.
Other New Paltzians will see a different Ulster County race, if they happen to live close to the heart of the village.
People living in District 20 will see incumbent Hector Rodriguez (D, WF) running unopposed for re-election to the Ulster County Legislature.
Elting Library proposition
Down below all the state-level ballot proposals — like the casino gambling initiative — New Paltzians will see a seventh question. Question No. 7 happens to address Elting Memorial Library’s finances.
Voters will get to decide if New Paltz’s public house of knowledge will get $75,000 more per year from local taxpayers.
Library officials last asked the public for additional funding back in 2009, when taxpayer contribution was bumped up to $321,000 annually.
Elting Library would like voters to raise that level again up to $396,000 annually and use the money to expand their hours. Nearly every weekday, Elting opens at 10 a.m. However, on Tuesdays and Thursdays the library opens late at 1 p.m. Library officials also would like to upgrade the public computers, bring in more electronic media and buy more books.
For a house assessed at $300,000, the change in taxes would be $18 a year if the measure goes through.
When and where to vote
Voting will open at 6 a.m. and the polls will close at 9 p.m. Districts 1 and 5 will vote at Deyo Hall; 4, 6 and 8 will vote at the New Paltz Middle School; Districts 2, 3, 7 and 10 at New Paltz High School; and District 9 will vote at the SUNY New Paltz campus.
