Linda Fairgrieve, the Hometown Party candidate for Village of Mineola trustee, maintains the village has a deficit and says the large amount of bonding the current village board has done is one of the major concerns of residents. One of her Village Party opponents, incumbent Trustee Warren Brinker, says Fairgrieve doesn't understand municipal budgeting and that Mineola's fiscal health is the best it has ever been.

Fairgrieve, who will face Brinker and Trustee Maryanne Warnecke, also of the Village Party, in a March 21 election, said residents may rue the bonding the board has done for projects like the pool, the library and the fire house.

"I see the amount of bonding that has gone on and common sense dictates that when they talk about this for a library, this for a pool, this for a fire house, that money has to be paid back," she said. "People are concerned about the debt. They're concerned about the future."

Brinker said the capital improvement projects the village has borrowed for ¬ two of which were voted on by residents in a referendum ¬ do not get figured into the fund balance, which officials maintain is at a surplus of over $1 million.

"Fund accounting for municipal finance is different from regular accounting," he said. "If [Fairgrieve] is going to make comments about the financial health of the village she should have the education to know what she's talking about. We have an A-2 bond rating. In 1994, that was significantly lower."

Furthermore, Brinker said the investments made through borrowing ultimately have a positive effect on overall fiscal health of the village and its residents. After the passage of the bond for the pool referendum and library initiative, the tax rate did go up. However, Brinker notes that the village tax rate has decreased to $11.15 per $100 of assessed valuation from $11.16 per $100 in 1994.

"People who better their lives and go out and buy a home take out a mortgage," Brinker said. "Very few people can afford to buy a house with cash. We didn't have the cash to go build a pool so we're going to pay for it at a very competitive rate of 3.6 percent over time. Everybody's property values have increased and at higher rates than surrounding communities because of the investing we've made in the infrastructure."

Fairgrieve said she was only speaking of residents' concerns, and added that the village has borrowed for snow removal ¬ something she said she disagrees with.

"I would not approve bonding for snow removal, which has been done in the past," she said. "You definitely only bond for major capital improvements."

Brinker said the village bonded for snow removal only in 1996, after the village ¬ along with the rest of the state ¬ was hit by about 20 snowstorms. During that time, the state passed a law that allowed municipal governments to short-term finance snow removal because of the serious and unexpected weather which had caught so many communities off guard.

"It literally bankrupted municipalities all over the state," Brinker said. "We didn't budget for that much snow removal because we're usually right on. We were allowed to pay for it over 5 years at 2 percent interest."

While Fairgrieve admits she has a lot to learn about the inner workings of village government, she is eager to learn ¬ from both officials and residents. Her campaign staff is scheduling several "coffee meetings" with local residents, where Fairgrieve will be invited into residents' homes to chat with her neighbors about what's important to them.

"Someone who is interested and knows people who want to know a bit more about me will invite me over," she said. "I'll speak and I'll answer questions. They might not necessarily know how they're going to vote."

Her main concern at this point is learning more about what the residents want out of their local government, but she is sure about one thing ¬ that there is a need for political balance on the village board. Trustee Elizabeth Conlon is the only Hometown Party member on the board. The mayor and the other trustees are Village Party members.

"The more balanced a board, the better the checks-and-balances," she said. "The residents should be made more aware of what's going on and if there was more of a balance, I feel that more information would get out to the public."

Brinker dismissed that point, saying Conlon has voted with the majority on the board "99.9 percent of the time." He also said village elections should not be as political as they are.

"These elections are about people, not parties," he said. "You will not find three residents who can look around the village and say it's not in better shape than it was four years ago. I include Betty Conlon in on the achievements we've had. Trustee Conlon has never, not a single time, made a motion or brought something to the table that was denied."

* There will be a cocktail party fund raiser for Fairgrieve Sunday, March 12 at Massaro's in Mineola. For more information, call Tim Almeida, campaign manager, at 747-6967.

* The next issue of the Mineola American will contain an interview with Maryanne Warnecke.