How to resolve AdBlock issue? BALLSTON SPA — Concerned citizen of Ballston Spa, Liz Kormos, has announced she is running for one of the two open village trustee seats. The election will be held on March 19.
Kormos has been attending village meetings on a regular basis for about three years. She’s been living in Ballston Spa since 2013.
“I was actually quite taken aback by the way they handle the meetings. Before Noah (Shaw) and Shawn (Raymond), I’d walk in and the mayor would read his expenditures that he wanted authorized, they’d say yes — no discussion. So obviously all the discussion happened already,” Kormos said.
Current Mayor John Romano and two village trustees, Stuart Hodsoll and Robert Cavanaugh are not seeking re-election this year. The three have held their seat for nearly 24 years.
Since the resignations of treasurer Christopher Hickey and deputy treasurer Darryl Purinton in September, Kormos has been an even louder voice wanting better financial management of the village. Kormos says she has been asking questions about the village’s financial state for a few years now.
“I found it really kind of incredible that there was no discussion. They were very short meetings and it was very sparsely attended. Sometimes I was the only person to speak and then there were one or two other people but generally those folks didn’t ask questions,” Kormos said.
Kormos was one of five members of the budget advisory committee appointed by the village board in early October of 2018, following the release of a financial audit by the New York State’s Comptroller stating that the Village is in poor financial condition and that records were kept inadequately. Her job on the committee was to develop strategies and identify opportunities for advancing the state of the village’s fiscal affairs.
She was also a member of the zoning advisory committee with members of the planning and zoning boards, Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association, and local developers to make recommendations on improvements in the zoning code which were then adopted by the board of trustees.
Christine Fitzpatrick, another concerned citizen of Ballston Spa, is running for trustee with Kormos under a new party line, “A Better BSpa.” They seek to take to take the politics out of village elections. Along with addressing the village’s poor financial condition they would like to concentrate on repairing and improving the infrastructure, roads, parking and sidewalks; increasing the tax base by redeveloping existing properties,improvingpublicsafety on our streets; and supporting senior citizens.
“I think people should look at the four trustee candidates, look at their experience, look at their background and also look at how hard they’ve already worked in the village,” Kormos said.
