Reelected, incumbents face challenges

By Derek Liebig

Members of the Granville Village Board will be together for at least two more years.

Incumbents Dean Hyatt and Paul Labas defeated challenger Judith Daigle last Wednesday to earn new four-year terms.

Labas received 76 votes and Hyatt 69 votes, while Daigle garnered 34 votes. Only 100 ballots were cast.

Mayor Brian LaRose and Justice Roger Forando, both of whom ran unopposed, received 77 and 80 votes, respectively.

The results keep intact a board that has been together for the past four years. Labas and LaRose have both served one term while Hyatt has been on the board since 2007.

The board approved the tentative $1.35 million budget earlier this month and will finalize the spending plan next month.

The plan raises the tax levy nearly 3 percent, from $1,015,924 to $1,046,114.

The resulting increase in taxes is projected to be 3.55 percent and the tax rate is expected to increase from $9.71 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $10.05. That increase will cost residents whose properties are assessed at $90,000 an additional $28 in taxes.

Officials have said declining revenue and not expenses have put a strain on the village’s budget and identifying new sources of revenue will be a priority.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. on April 6.

Also looming are contract negotiations with the village’s police department.

LaRose has said the department is a tremendous benefit to the community, but costs continue to rise and the department makes up nearly one-third of the village’s budget allocations.

“No one can argue that we’re a better community without them,” LaRose said in January. “I truly believe, but costs keep rising. We need to look at what we can do to make sure the police are most sustainable.”

Negotiations are expected to begin before the end of the year.

Property maintenance laws will also continue to be a point of emphasis. LaRose, Hyatt and Labas all cited abandoned and foreclosed properties as significant issues on questionnaires distributed to all candidates prior to last week’s election.

Labas, who described the situation as “appalling” said that at last count there were as many as 27 abandoned homes in the village and many more going through foreclosure. And that number may increase.

According to town assessor Daniel Boone, there has been an increase in the number of foreclosed homes in the town, and many of those properties are within village limits. Although the economy is improving, properties that were under water three of four years ago are only now completing the foreclosure process.

LaRose has said he would like to give local property maintenance laws more teeth and he, Hyatt and Labas have all said they would like to identify more effective means of communicating with the banks who end up being responsible for the properties.

The village and town will also look to complete a sidewalk project along Quaker Street. Officials had hoped to finish the project last fall, but didn’t garner any bids.