Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Maury Thompson, Special to The Chronicle
Democratic Councilman Harrison Freer faces two challengers — Republican Doug Beaty and Dave Deeb, running on the Conservative line — in the election for the Ward 2 seat on the Queensbury Town Board.
Two years ago, when Mr. Deeb had the Republican line, Mr. Freer won narrowly, 729-695.
What will happen now that current Queensbury At-Large County Supervisor Doug Beaty, a proven Republican vote-getter, makes it a three-way race.
A key issue: There is debate over whether the dollar amount or a percentage of increase in the property tax is the appropriate measure.
Mr. Beaty blasts the “59% increase” in the tax rate in this year’s budget.
“The reality is…that’s a lot of increase,” Mr. Beaty said, in a telephone interview.
Mr. Freer and Mr. Deeb counter that the increase of 30-cents-per-$1,000 — from $0.52 to $0.82 — when measured in dollar value, is not all that drastic.
The tax rate is the amount of taxes a property owner pays for each $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Mr. Freer said the percentage increase may seem to be high, but it’s because Queensbury had a very low tax rate, and still has a relatively low tax rate in comparison with other towns.
“This whole notion that we’re a bunch of tax-and-spenders in balderdash,” he said.
“It’s being misrepresented as a huge tax hike,” said Mr. Deeb.
Mr. Freer said the increase was largely due to increased costs and negotiated cost-of-living increases in wages for unionized employees.
“We’re trying to keep the roads safe and keep the staff paid,” he said.
Mr. Beaty said a tax rate increase could have been avoided, without cutting any programs or services, by allocating less money to the capital reserve fund.
The Town Board has a tradition of allocating money to the capital reserve fund to pay for future major projects without significantly increasing taxes.
Mr. Freer said Mr. Beaty was “misleading” in a recent Chronicle advertisement that stated, “Mr. Freer said at a Town Board meeting 10/16/23. The 59% increase is a ‘pretty low tax rate.’”
“This is taken very much out of context and borders on libel,” Mr. Freer said.
Mr. Beaty defended his campaign ad.
“He did vote for the 59% town tax increase. He can’t run away from that,” he said.
Mr. Freer and Mr. Deeb say that the debate over the tax increase is emblematic of a larger distinction from Mr. Beaty in approach to government.
In separate interviews, Mr. Freer and Mr. Deeb both described themselves as “team players” who will work quietly with other Town Board members to achieve solutions.
Mr. Deeb says of voters, “They’re tired of all the squawking. They’re tired of all the bickering. … Let’s be calm about it.”
Mr. Freer said, “I haven’t seen anything Beaty has said he wants to do beside cut taxes.”
Mr. Beaty said he won’t apologize to his opponents for being outspoken. “I’m not going to be a team player when it comes to abusing the taxpayers,” he said.
Mr. Freer, a retired Air Force colonel, is serving his third two-year term on the Town Board.
He previously was chairman of the town Zoning Board of Appeals.
Mr. Freer said that he led a town task force to develop regulations on short-term rental properties and was instrumental in developing town policy on cannabis sales, among other topics.
He said that a statewide planning organization is discussing using the town’s short-term rental regulations as a model for the state.
If re-elected, Mr. Freer said one of his priorities will be affordable housing.
He said one way to accomplish this would be to update zoning for a parcel along Route 9 near Hovey Pond for construction of an apartment complex.
Mr. Deeb, a registered Republican who is running on the Conservative line, is a retired small business owner and former substitute teacher. He has been a member of the Queensbury Planning Board for 13 years, and has previously run unsuccessfully for Town Board twice.
“So, I wanted to try one more time,” he said.
Mr. Deeb said, if elected, one of his priorities would be to find the right balance between commercial and residential development in the town.
He said national shopping trends have decreased the demand for commercial property, even as there is a shortage of housing.
Mr. Deeb says one way to address this would be to revise zoning along the town’s Main Street corridor, between Northway Exit 18 and the border with Glens Falls, to allow residential development on the ground floors. Currently, only commercial is allowed on the ground floors.
Mr. Beaty is a retired sales executive who worked in the cosmetics and insurance fields.
He has served as an at-large supervisor on the Warren County Board of Supervisors for five two-year terms, and was on the Queensbury School Board for two-and-a-half years before that.
Mr. Beaty said constituents asked him to run for town board, instead of re-election to the county board, because of the property tax rate increase.
If elected, Mr. Beaty said one of his priorities will be maintaining programs and services for senior citizens.
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