Bronxville election season quiet as usual
Incumbent Bronxville Village trustees Bill Barton (R) and Anne Poorman (R) are running for re-election. Each is seeking their third elected term and for the second race in a row, neither candidate will be opposed.

“I think I’ve done a credible job for the village,” Barton, 60, said. “The village trustees have acted on everyone’s behalf. I am talented financially, having worked with Goldman-Sachs for the last 25 years, and I think I have been beneficial to the village.”

Poorman, 50, replaced Mayor Mary Marvin, when Marvin moved from trustee to mayor in 2005. Poorman won re-election in 2006 and 2008.

“I worry that in the two years since the last election, people’s bank accounts have taken a hit,” she stated. “I feel that our residents are taxed onerously. We don’t want people to flee because they can’t afford to live here.”

Neither candidate ever held an elected office before being becoming a village trustee, but each stated that they have enjoyed the experience and are helping to make Bronxville a better place to live.

“I think we have done a good job in keeping the village in good shape and moving it into the 21st century,” Poorman said. “We actually have lively debates and certainly don’t agree on everything. I think we are a good team. We respect each other highly and the mayor is doing a spectacular job. We have been some good stewards in tough economic times.”

Bronxville was the only municipality in Westchester County to have a zero percent increase in the 2010 budget. Barton attributed it to a combination of seeking additional revenues and cutting expenses.

“This is what the government in Washington D.C. should be doing,” Barton said. “I read that other villages like Harrison have had large tax increases. They are going backwards and this is a good example of what we would like to avoid.”

According to Poorman, whittling the budget down to a zero percent tax increase wasn’t easy. She added that the village was helped when a key administrator retired and the position was not filled.

“We cut across the board from all departments,” Poorman said. “We asked them first and most department heads obliged.”

The candidates stated that during their watch, the village has become more eco-friendly. This included the establishment of a Green Committee and planting trees across the community. When Village Hall was renovated, an eco-friendly component was added with the heating and cooling systems to reduce energy costs.
“We are so small and live in each other’s pockets,” Poorman explained. “Our foliage has always been a hallmark of our beauty.”

One goal the Village Board has is to fill empty storefronts and creatively encourage local shopping.

“This is a tough one,” Barton said. “Landlords have their own business models and are entitled to charge what the market can bear. We are more or less cajoling and encouraging residents to shop in Bronxville. We are encouraging a vibrant downtown with plenty of merchandise so people might not think to go to Central Avenue or shop on the Internet.”

Even though each candidate is unopposed, Poorman thinks that the public keeps its elected officials in the village on their toes.

“Frankly I don’t think of myself as a politician,” Poorman said. “I have gone through a vigorous contested election but it took away from time to do my job.”

Chair of the Bronxville Democratic Committee Elisabeth Harding stated that it is difficult to find a candidate to run against Barton and Poorman due to time, money and effort.

“Most people just aren’t very interested in regular local issues,” Harding explained. “People get interested when there is a big controversial issue; then they tune out again.”

Harding added that there is a perception that Democrats can’t get elected in Bronxville since Republicans have always dominated politics in the village. Outside of the hotly-contested election of 2006 in which Barton and Poorman squared off against Harding and fellow-Democrat Antoine Brousta, Democrats haven’t contested the elections in over a decade.

This year’s election is scheduled for March 16.