Contacts: Steven Sanders 716-839-0212 info@sandersforamherst.com Matthew Reda 716-913-1191 Mreda12@verizon.net

For Immediate Release

August 18, 2009

As the editor of the Amhersttimes.com I put these two questions to Steven Sanders Republican Candidate for a seat on the Amherst Town Board. There will be more questions to follow.

Question 1) Thinking out of the box, how would you lower taxes for the people of Amherst?

Question 2) What are your views on development in Amherst ?

Thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions. Please feel free to send me any

follow up questions.

1. I, as I assume all other candidates do, would love to lower town taxes. However, realistically, I am not sure that this is possible. The fact of the matter is that the Town of Amherst's Total Governmental Funds had about $6.5 million more in expenditures than revenue for the calendar year 2008. Coupled with nearly $1 million transferred to the enterprise fund for the Amherst Ice Facility, the Total Governmental Funds Fund Balances decreased by $7.5 million in 2008. The net assets decreased by over $13 million in 2008, "primarily attributed to a large one-time expense related to claims and judgments that occurred during the year" (2008 Financial Statements). Knowing that expenses increase annually from inflation and as per conversations with the Highway Department, Engineering Department, Planning Department, Recreation Department and Town Courts, that the repairs and maintenance and capital improvement budgets have been slashed to the bone over the past eight years or more, the town will need to spend more money in the future, if just to avoid even larger expenses later. Furthermore, if the aforementioned is not enough of a concern, based on the way that the pension costs are calculated by the state, the drop in the financial markets will lead to a huge increase in town's future pension contribution obligations. That all said, I would consider being able to keep the tax rates the same a tremendous accomplishment.

   So then, if I can restate the question, I would work to keep the tax rates the same through a number of methods. First off, I would encourage redevelopment and code enforcement to ensure fair valuation of currently undervalued properties. With a higher assessed value, the same tax rates would generate more revenue. Second, I would make sure that I do my homework to avoid making illegal decisions that would lead to the town being sued. Third, I will, together with the rest of the board, department heads and labor representatives, look into all the town departments to try to uncover duplications of equipment or services that might be able to generate cost savings from consolidation and also look to identify excess capacity that could be used to generate income from the public, or cost savings for other departments. For example potential savings might come from merging either the vehicle maintenance currently done by Highway, Engineering and Police or the grounds maintenance currently done by Highway (Parks) and Recreation. Finally, I will work with our state representatives to reduce the state mandates that unfairly burden our town.

2. Simply put, as a Town Board Member I would encourage reinvestment and redevelopment in the older neighborhoods and commercial corridors. I will use the Town's Master Plan as a guide for the development of undeveloped parts of the town.