GARDINER – "The business of the finances, as they described it, is a total distortion of what's going on," said Leon Steiner, Chairman of the Gardiner Democratic Committee, referring to last week's Journal article concerning the ascension of the Republican Party in the Town of Gardiner. Members of the town's Democratic Committee took umbrage with the portrait painted by the Republicans of the Democratic Party's loss of elected positions within town government

"The 68 percent [tax levy increase] figure is completely unreasonable and untrue," said Barbara Sides, a member of the Democratic Committee, making reference to a quote attributed to Town Councilmember Rich Koenig. "It was disturbing to me to see that charge made during the campaign. There was plenty of opportunity to check that number. They could have asked Supervisor Joe Katz. They didn't."

Nadine Lemmon, a town councilmember, said, "Rich Koenig just got it wrong. The year he meant to talk about, 2006 to 2007, saw the tax income go up from $1,026,638 to $1,221,699. That's a 19 percent increase, not 68 percent."

"This is a small town, everyone knows everyone. To so misrepresent the numbers like this was a low blow. We're all neighbors, and now they've told the residents here that we raised taxes by an impossible number, and that is just not true."

The Gardiner Democrats are incensed at what they see as deliberate misinformation being spread by the Gardiner Republicans.

Janet Kern, one of the losing candidates in last November's election, was angered by what she read in last week's Shawangunk Journal.

"Mr. Koenig completely misrepresented the Ridge Protection Zoning Law. That zoning has three components. The uppermost, and most fragile area is zoned at 20 acres. The middle elevation, Zone 2, is zoned at 10 acres, and the lower portion is zoned at five acres."

Leon Steiner said, "There's an element of backlash in this. They want to undo the zoning and break the protection of the ridge. They don't understand what the zoning ordinances were all about. They are property rights advocates. They'd like to go back to a lot of things that ruined other areas."

The Republican charges concerning the issue of the town's reserve fund also brought sharp rejoinders from the other side.

Nadine Lemmon laid out the problem with the accumulation of tax money in a reserve fund, which was championed by Republican Party Chair Patty Jacobsen in last week's article.

"It's a fundamentally unfair policy. If you over-tax residents and save their tax money, then by the time you spend it they might have moved away, or died. So you tax them but they receive no benefit whatsoever.

"This is why, when you have large capital expenditures you are supposed to bond it. That means everyone who enjoys the life of the building, or whatever it is, pays for it. You don't save up for it."

Indeed, the New York State Comptroller has said that it's fiscally irresponsible for a town to keep more than 20 percent of the budget in reserves.

"So, keeping $1 million was wrong. In 2004, we saw that this policy had been in place for a long time, we paid attention to the warnings from the state comptroller and we started giving that money back to the taxpayers.

"In the Republican campaign they said we spent the money. Not true: what we did was we gave it back to the taxpayers. In 2006, we gave $350,000 out of the general reserve fund back to the taxpayers. In 2007 we gave back $200,000. What we didn't do is raise taxes 68 percent."

Another issue that sparked a strong response from Democrats and their allies was that of the sidewalks project for the town center. In last week's article, Koenig is quoted as saying that people were "upset that the previous board didn't create a sidewalk district," which would have had property owners in that area pay for the sidewalks, instead of spreading costs across the town.

Yvonne Allenson, Campaign Coordinator for the Gardiner Democratic Party, said, "I can't understand the Republicans' position. This is part of the [federal] stimulus package, and the town gets $1.6 million and has to come up with just $30,000 in matching funds.

"We always ran on the sidewalks as part of the Democratic platform, and really, this is a safety issue."

Barbara Sides said, "I've seen women pull strollers out of the way when trucks come hurtling around that corner. If someone was hurt and the town was sued, that $30,000 would no longer seem like a lot of money. The fact is we need a crosswalk there, but the Department of Transportation will not put one across 44/55 until there are sidewalks to attach it to.

"We live in a community. I don't use every road in Gardiner, but I help pay for their upkeep, and I do that willingly."

Janet Kern added, "I think the town center belongs to everyone, and is used by everyone. It is absurd to claim that sidewalks in the hamlet would only benefit the property owners in the hamlet."

Yvonne Allenson spoke to the issue of community and local candidates for office. "Greg Finger, one of our candidates, has been here for more than 35 years. He was fire chief, and is still a volunteer fireman. Janet Kern has a relationship with Gardiner going back many years; our candidates are as local as anyone."

Janet Kern said, "I think a lot of this come downs to a question of whether we are members of a community, or whether we are all out for ourselves alone."

Nadine Lemmon also pointed out that in Gardiner the lines are blurry between the parties on many issues.

"We all vote kind of independently. There are a lot of independent voters, and issues, like the cell tower, cut across party lines.

"On the finances, I say, if you look at all the other towns around us, we're definitely doing well."

Looking ahead to the next election cycle, Yvonne Allenson said, "The energy from Save the Ridge is still there. It may not be as strong now, because that's what happens. Issues are resolved and people go on with their own lives."

Leon Steiner said, "We will be busy this year on the county level. The big challenge on the local level is finding more people to become active Democrats."