- By Dan Veaner
- News
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Hurf Sheldon is a gregarious, yet soft spoken man who gets involved in his community. He and his wife Melissa came here for two years for Melissa to go to college. He took a job as a technician in a physics lab at Cornell, because he thought it would be fun for a couple of years. Then he began doing computer work there and his family became settled here. He says, "We've been very happy. It's a wonderful community."
|  District 6  |
He takes a week off of work each year to volunteer to run the Lansing Recreation Department's sailing program. He says, "I believe in service." Mr. Sheldon spoke to the Lansing Star on August second.
Lansing Star: Why are you running for County Board?
Hurf Sheldon: I've been County Democratic chair in the past, and we helped a couple of different candidates run. I've been very involved with the Town Board. I don't go to a lot of meetings, but I stay very close to what's going on. Occasionally I've been asked by people on the Town Board for advice on one thing or another. I've been in the community for almost 26 years. Between softball, the Democratic party, Cub Scouts... I've been very involved in the community.
When Tom Todd stepped down people from both the County Democratic party and people from Lansing, not just the Democratic party, but a lot of different people, a fairly wide spectrum, came and asked me if I would consider running for his seat. After talking with my family, who was really very reluctant to see me go ahead with this, I told them it was something I would really like to try. With the encouragement that i was getting from so many different people in the community I decided I would go ahead with it.
The fly in the ointment was that with kids graduating and running the Recreation Department's sailing camp and everything else I was really hoping to wait until the Democratic caucus in late August. But it turned out we had to carry petitions in June to get them in by July so that pushed us ahead a little before we wanted.
Anyway, we did it and several nice people carried the petitions for me. We met the minimum plus more very easily. I've run a word of mouth campaign as much as possible.
LS: What are the key challenges for the County as you see them?
HS: My real focus has been planning. I think that the future is the most important thing for the County, because the issues of taxes and assessments is brought up every four years. It's an easy horse to ride. But between the State mandates and the fixed costs in the County the percentage of money government has discretion over, as opposed to what's actually spent, is very small. It's probably on the order of 15% of the total budget.
If you look at the amount of money that the County government has discretion over compared to the total tax bill... if you take School and County taxes together, it's a far smaller amount. It's probably on the order of three or four percent. I don't have the figures exactly, but I've looked at the figures and that's roughly what they are.
So for the County government to really make a difference is in planning. I mean, you have to look at the County government as a large ship that can't make instantaneous course corrections. As we go forward we have to look at where we're going in terms of expenditures, where we're going in terms of future revenue. One of the things I think is important is to try to slowly move into revenue-based taxes as opposed to asset-based taxes. And that can help a little bit.
One of the things that I think is going to be hard in the campaign is to try to clarify to people that there is a real separation between assessment tax expenditures and the tax levy. The thing that people have a hard time grasping is that if they never reassess any of our property our taxes would still go up. If they raise the assessment on our property and school and County spending goes down, our taxes would go down.
So assessments are really decoupled from taxes. It just feels like they're connected. And one of the issues is that the Assessment Department doesn't report to the County government. The Assessment Department is run by State regulations. The County has no say over how the Assessment Department is run. They can complain, but they're like everyone else.
What you do with what the assessment gives you is what you have to do with planning. If you look at the future, the growth that is taking place in the County, in large part is taking place in Lansing and in the suburbs. Dryden and Lansing in particular, but it's starting to be Newfield, Enfield and these areas. This is putting an enormous burden on the town infrastructure. You want to have new people come in, and you want to have the community grow up. At the same stand you have to plan for the people who are already there. And that's another reason why revenue based taxes, I think, are a very important thing to think about.
LS: You're talking about a county income tax?
HS: No, I'm not. I'm not sure. I think that we have to look at maybe raising the sales tax. I don't know. The principal is that as we plan for the future we have to look at revenue-based taxation as opposed to asset-based. I'm not saying you have to turn completely to that.
One of the ways we can do that is by improving growth in the County, but that's a double-edged sword. You improve growth, you improve the number of cars that are on the road, you improve the number of houses that are being built, so then you improve the number of people that need schools, and a lot of other things. So on the one hand we can't stay where we are if we want to grow our income, but we also have to look at what (impact the growth will have).
One of the ways we can help our region as a county... I think the push back effort is very good, because that really got some attention in Albany.
LS: That was what?
HS: This was the thing that the County governments did together. I think Tim Joseph took the lead on it. They got other counties around that weren't Democratic to get together and let Albany know that unfunded mandates, the reduction in school support, all of these things coming from Albany were not going to be tolerated. Medicaid costs and so forth. It has resulted in Tompkins County having some more support from Medicaid than they had in the past. If the County government hadn't gotten other county governments to do it, if it were just our county it wouldn't have helped that much.
So I think these kind of efforts that are state-wide are important. You have to look forward, you have to look ahead to do these things. So I'm trying to have a planning mentality. If I was on the County Board one of the things I would continue to do is encourage those sort of things.
The second look down the road with planning is that I don't think our growth and revenue is going to hold. I think we may be due for a recession. Even if we're not I think we have to plan for it. We have to look at what our fixed overhead is and try to plan for the future on how to keep that down. To plan on how to get by with lower revenue without raising taxes.
The other thing is that in planning our growth I think the best thing we can do is help our surrounding counties be successful, which will take some of the pressure off of us.
LS: Give me an example.
HS: Well, like Cortland has lost a lot of manufacturing. Ithaca's staring to be a real high tech area. We should make sure as we develop schemes to bring in high tech people that we also let the surrounding counties know what we're doing and participate with them. Maybe they'd even (provide) the housing.But you don't want to be the only place that is growing when all your neighbors are contracting. If you look at Seneca County, Cayuga County, Cortland County, they're either holding steady or they're getting smaller economically. One of the things that we have to do as good neighbors is to try to help them.
LS: I was looking at the 2000 census figures. Lansing town and village have about 48% of Ithaca's population and has 30% of the representation. Do you feel Lansing's point of view is represented adequately on the county level?
HS: Based on those numbers I don't think so, and that's why I think that someone who is in this position, who can get along well with people, and has a good handle on talking with people in the town... and also that's why I think that a Democrat would be good. I could get along better with the people who are there and have better influence. I think that as time goes by having another redistricting and having another representative... maybe this district that I'm running in would be smaller and the other section would be larger. The population is also growing in Lansing and I'm curious as to what the numbers are in 1995.
In listening to a lot of discussion about what's going on in the county with growth and expenditures, one of the things that we don't have is what's the growth in per-capita expenditure? In the county and Lansing in particular the population has increased. I don't think our expenditures in the town have increased in County expenditures that much. We have to look at the overall picture.
I think to do planning properly you have to look at what happened in the last ten or fifteen years, at what the growth curve is. And you have to plan for what's coming. So again, it's my metaphor of a large ship which has a lot of inertia and can't make quick course corrections. You have to look where you've come from and you have to look ahead at where you're going and try to figure out what the best thing to do it.
LS: You would favor pushing for another full seat as opposed to the half seat?
HS: I would. I think that as the county grows representation has to be adjusted.
LS: Right now, more or less, the Village has that half seat. Do you view the seat and a half as a voting block?
HS: No, I think it could be, but the Village and the Town have some different points of view over different things. I think that it could be a voting block for Lansing as a whole, but the Village has some very individual needs which don't necessarily effect the town, and vice versa. So those are areas of particular interest that might, say, for the Village overlap with Ithaca more than with Lansing, and there are areas that might overlap more with the Town than with the city.
I think Dooley (Kiefer, the District 10 incumbent) has done a very good job so far of representing the Village, and I think she is sensitive to the needs of the Town. So I wouldn't characterize it as a voting block, but it certainly is an interest area. But I don't think it is a monolithic view, because the Village has needs that the Town might even differ with them on.
There is a tremendous history of Democratic activity in Lansing, and some really wonderful people that I've gotten to meet through the Democratic party. Old Lansing families and farm families, the people you would say "Oh they live on a farm, they must be Republicans." There's a tremendous Democratic tradition in Lansing and I'm very proud to be carrying that forward.
LS: In the budget summary that the County publishes Tim Joseph says that future tax increases re largely in the hands of the State and Federal governments. Last year County taxes were up 6 and a half percent, each of the two years prior to that it was about 13%. This is higher than the cost of living. Do you think the County taxes are too high?
HS: I think that we should get them lower, but I do believe that a lot of the expenditures are because of State and Federal mandated programs that we have to come up with the money for. Also, there has been some investment in infrastructure with the development in the county. I know that some of that is driven by development that has actually been in the city, but the County does get some of the sales tax revenue. And there are some peripheral infrastructure investments which the County has had to make. That has increased expenditures.
LS: You're talking about areas like around Wegmens and Barnes and Noble, Walmart, and so on?
HS: Yes. I think the County had to participate in that to some degree.
LS: But they'll participate in the sales tax revenue.
HS: Exactly. With any kind of physical plant investment it costs less to do it today than it's going to cost to do it tomorrow. One of the things that happened is that because of a different view of infrastructure a lot of investment wasn't made in the early '90s that should have been. I believe the County's been having to catch up. So we've had to spend money now to make up for money that wasn't spent ten years ago, which would have been a lot cheaper overall.
LS: Would you cut any programs?
HS: I'm not going to go in on my election platform and say I will go in and do this or that. What I want to do is represent Lansing and make the best decisions that I can with discussion with the Town Board and the people of Lansing. I'm not saying I'm going to go in and get rid of this program or that program. I'm going to go in and represent Lansing in the best possible way that I can, looking at all the programs.
You know there are programs that maybe don't directly benefit Lansing, but which overall might be good. And there are programs that maybe from a County planning standpoint are not that great, that are going to be detrimental to Lansing. And there may be programs that I might be in favor of, but if the majority of the Board and Town of Lansing is against them... I mean I'm running to be a Lansing representative, not to drive my agenda in the County. I really want the job of representing Lansing.
LS: On the budget still, because that's what people talk about...
HS: I understand! I want to get them to talk about planning. (both laugh)
LS: The zero-increase budget that is being talked about for 2006: do you think the County will be able to achieve that?
HS: I think it's a good goal. I think with the additional Medicaid funds that we may be getting -- you can't count on it until we get it -- it could be a realistic goal. I don't think it's pie in the sky. And I certainly don't think it's a political trick. It's a good goal. I think that if they don't get to zero they shouldn't be overly criticized for that. I think it's a good idea to plan for that and it certainly does put some pressure on them since they came up with it, to do it.
We have to look at all the programs and maybe there's a way to do it. I think it's very possible that it could be done. Well let me put it this way: I don't think it's unrealistic to plan for it, but it would be difficult to accomplish. I don't think it would be easy. It certainly is going to take some sacrifice.
LS: I heard someone on the radio claiming there is no need for government below the County level. The reason he gave for that was economy of scale, that Like Walmart the County could buy in bulk for schools, roads, police and so on. Do you think it's a good idea, and do you think the County has shown that it could accomplish something like this?
HS: Well, let me answer in the reverse way. I don't think with the present structure of the County that that model would work. I think there are economies of scale. There are probably things that the townships could purchase together, or there may be some economies of scale particularly in the area of police. Because having competent trained policemen is probably more than a small town like Lansing should be paying for. On the other hand, getting that service from the Sheriff or the State Police and having Town Constables that are trained police... I think that's a very good model.
LS: And that's the model we have now.
HS: Right. That works quite well. Moving our court system to Ithaca instead of having Judge Burin and Judge Howell, hand over local cases... I don't think that is a workable model. I think the town court system with the lay judges works very well. And I think having town courts, particularly dealing with some minor offenses of our youth and that kind of thing, I think is much more community driven. And I think it becomes a kind of alienating experience if you're not dealing with people close to home on that level. So those are two instances, one I would say is pro and the other is con. I really don't see a wholesale view.
LS: How do you think the County is doing with the airport?
HS: I listen to Larry Baum, Larry is running the Airport Advisory Council. I think they have a good handle on what's going on up there. As a former pilot myself I'd be interested to be involved with that, because it is in Lansing. The airport is a small regional airport. The economics of those things can be very difficult. The airport for the size it is has been pretty well run. US Air, I think, has taken terrible advantage of Ithaca.
LS: In what way?
HS: I think the flights could be less expensive and more frequent. In the past there were flights that you could get from Syracuse that took you directly, but if you flew from Ithaca you had to go through Pittsburgh. This didn't make a lot of sense.
LS: Still, that was better than going through Philadelphia (which is the current situation).
HS: Yes. But we don't really have enough traffic to have enough marketing clout, although we're getting more. And there are certain Federal regulations that have to be kept up to keep the airport running. I do think it is a good economic resource for the County, and it's one of those things that could even be a loss-leader. I don't think the County makes money on the airport, but the County as a whole benefits from the airport.
Listening to Larry Baum talking about the Airport Advisory Council, I think they have a really good handle on what's going on there. And again, they are planning. (laughs) My key word. When people look at me I want them to see planning.
LS: Public safety. Do you feel the Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's office are adequately supported by the County?
HS: I don't have a good handle on the District Attorney's office myself, and I am not in favor of a lot of the things I've seen published that George Dentes (Tompkins County's District Attorney) has said. I'm really supporting Gwen Wilkenson. I think that she's got a better approach to things.
I think the Sheriff's Department since (Sheriff) Peter Meskill took it over has really changed for the better. The fact that he wasn't a professional law enforcement person when he took it over... a lot of people wondered how well it would go. But I think the Sheriff's Department by and large is pretty well run. I've seen the caliber of personnel that they have there. I've seen the people that have been there, to me it looks like they are happier and feel better supported. The response time is shorter. I think that's going in the right direction. How that group interfaces with the District Attorney's office I don't have any opinion on at the moment.
LS: I have heard there are positions in the Sheriff's Department that aren't being filled because of funding. Should the County be providing more funding?
HS: I think that the Sheriff's Department is clearly overextended with the size of the county and the number of personnel that they have. If there is a way that we can get them more support we should do that. The question is where the money comes from to do that. Whether we get it from the towns that are getting constabulary services, or from the State, or even the Federal government. Particularly because we have an airport and there's all this homeland security money around, I certainly think that we should start looking at avenues like that. And I certainly think that anything we can do to train the department and to ease their load would be a good investment in the County as a whole.
Because the County's growing. The surface area of the County's not growing, but the population is growing at a fairly steady rate. And we're growing faster than any of our surrounding counties. So, again, you have to plan for that. We can't wake up five years from now and say, "Oh boy, our population's gone up by ten percent and our Sheriff Department's gone down by seven." You know, there's a disconnect. We really have to look at where we're going and we have to plan for it. I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record. (Laughs)
LS: The library's budget woes have been in the news this year. What action do you think the COunty should take to address it?
HS: I don't think there is any more profound investment that public government can make than in a library. Whatever it takes to keep the library viable I would be in favor of. If we have to tighten our belts in other areas to keep the library viable I would be in favor of it.
LS: Do you think that recycling has been a success?
HS: I really do. Lynn Leopold has done a very good job with the solid waste management and recycling. Having been in the County before recycling and post-recycling, I think it has worked really well. The fact that the fees are really small and that the County actually in some years, depending on the market, actually materially benefits from the recycling. There have been years when they've made money on newsprint. I think the rest all costs money. Maybe the scrap metal, they might break even on it.
I think it's a good thing environmentally. The way it's been structured in this county it's not an overwhelming burden financially to have a solid waste center.
LS: What unique benefits will you bring to the County as a Lansing representative?
HS: First of all, I'm getting on in years so I have some experience. I've been a small business owner. I've worked at Cornell for more than 20 years. I was in the Army when I was younger. I just have a lot to bring to the table.
I am also fairly gregarious. I get along well with people. And people who know me already know that. I think that what I can really bring to the table for Lansing is to listen to people and get along with a wide spectrum of people, and try to take their ideas and bring them to the County Board. I can be a real communication channel between the Town and the County Board. And do the best that I can to represent Lansing.
LS: What haven't I asked you?
HS: I'm not sure where it stands, but if I am elected to the County Board or even if I'm not one of the things I would like to see us pursue is to make sure that Camp Barton doesn't fall into private hands. I think that's a very important issue. The Lion's Club is the sponsoring organization of the Lansing Boy Scouts. Dave Hardie and I had to drive down a year and a half ago to listen to the Boy Scouts go through their plans for selling Camp Barton. I know those plans are still up in the air, but I think it's a very important issue. And again, planning, I think that we have to look and see, because the waterfront.. You know, that's the issue. The cement plant has opened for development and has some public funds earmarked for it. But I don't think a lot's going on there, and I really think the Town and the County should take some interest. Because other than Myers park, if you go around the lake the public access is very very small compared to the population that surrounds the lake.
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