One of the many things I really appreciate about living in this small, tight-knit community is being able to walk into a “meet the candidate” house party down the street and be enthusiastically greeted by the candidate herself, then look around and see that I already know about a third of the people in the room of more than a dozen supporters. This was the case last night when I went to meet and learn more about Joanne Yepsen, who’s running for Saratoga County Supervisor.
I knew going into the event that Yepsen’s views on all the hot local issues — the water debate (on which the city council voted last night, thankfully, to revisit the Saratoga Lake option), the preservation of open spaces, the fair increasing of property taxes and assessments (is it really fair market value for everyone?) — were in line with mine, but what I didn’t know was much about what a supervisor does or what the structure of the board looks like.
I learned that the county board consists of 23 representatives from across the county. The supervisors have no term limits and most of them have been on the board for 10, 20, 30 years or more. Yepsen is one of two challengers going against two incumbents. The top two vote getters win the seats. If one candidate is your strong favorite, it’s more to that candidate’s benefit for you to cast only one vote (a “bullet vote”) rather than your possible two.
The county board has a budget surplus of $35 million (while Saratoga Springs, the financial and tourist lifeblood of the county, struggles with rising taxes) and oversees initiatives ranging from land preservation to water use to county personnel to disbursement of funds raised via NYRA from Saratoga Race Course (a percentage of every bet placed on track and at every OTB facility nationwide goes into the county treasury).
It was a great experience and one which has motivated me to be even more involved in local politics. On November 8, join me, Saratogians, in casting your ballot for Joanne Yepsen — a candidate for the people and accountable only to the people — whose goal is maintaining the special quality of life that we all enjoy here in Saratoga Springs. Joanne is not your typical politican. She is personable and approachable, and clearly cares about the issues and this town.
