WELLSVILLE – A poll on Wellsville Regional News shows 68 percent of responders oppose the proposal to move the Town of Wellsville offices to the Wellsville Municipal Airport while only 32 percent approve, but Town Supervisor Shad Alsworth isn’t sure about the numbers.
“I don’t know if people are able to vote more than once or even if these people are residents. I know that on social media I’ve gotten unfavorable comments from people as far away as Hawaii. I don’t know why they’re so worried unless they are former residents and have family here or if they are property owners here,” Alsworth said.
But Alsworth and the board are seeking input on the decision to move to the airport. Due to the lack of time before the town must move to avoid paying rent, there is no time to put together a costly referendum, he said. Instead they are asking people to comment to Alsworth at his email, wnytreeguy@gmail.com or to attend the board’s Dec. 11th meeting at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building.
“I only ask that their comments be respectful and intelligent,” he said.
Earlier this year town officials learned that the village offices would be vacating Main Street’s Municipal Building which it shares with the town offices this year. The building is owned by the village and the rental agreement with the town is based on a shared services agreement. The village intends to sell the Municipal Building and put the building back on the tax rolls. As such the town board was put on notice that should that happen, it would have to move its offices within a specified period.
Alsworth estimated, that to rent another facility would add further expense to the already strapped town budget.
“It would cost us around $12,000 a year to stay in the Municipal Building until it sells. We would pay for the electrical costs and the village would maintain the building and pay for the gas,” he said.
Before considering the airport facility, which is owned and maintained by the town, officials looked at its highway department buildings on West Hanover Street and found them inadequate for town offices. The airport facility has recently received a $100,000 grant from the county for capital improvements.
Alsworth said there are many good reasons for the town offices to move to the airport. The highest motivation is that it is free, there is also plenty of free parking, handicapped accessibility, and lots of room for storage of documents routinely needed by the assessor and tax collector. The airport terminal can also accommodate board meetings and provide office space for the assessor, tax collector and supervisor.
The Supervisor also noted that the roads to access the airport facility are well-maintained by the highway department and should pose no problems during the winter months.
Alsworth said, “Most people come to the town offices for a hunting license, dog license, marriage license, death certificate, assessments or a dump permit. We’re one of the largest issuers of dump permits in the county because we’ve been designated to issue permits for all the dump facilities in the county. The average town resident doesn’t visit at all.”
He found that most visit the office between 0 to 3 times a year.
He also noted that moving the office to the airport will give more recognition to the airport. “It is a great facility for the town and county and believe it or not some people have never seen it,” he commented.
“My primary target is the people in the Town of Wellsville who will be impacted by any tax increases in the town’s budget. Moving to the airport, if we do, is a short-term solution for where we can move our offices. In the end it is a board decision as to where we move. We know it is better to be downtown, but this is a short-term solution to the problem of where to put our offices,” Alsworth said.
