EDITOR: I have followed your paper’s daily coverage of the campaign race for the office of sheriff of Bradford County with great interest. Being a former resident of Towanda, having been born and raised there, I have been personally acquainted with most men who have held that office since Sheriff Eisenwine in the late 1930s and recall all of them to be ready and willing to stand on their past performance. My interest has been further aroused since I am a retired New York State trooper/criminal investigator with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and have had personal dealings with Briggs family members in the past.
I wish to take no sides in this matter but I am somewhat puzzled by certain county politicians and persons involved in this campaign stating that they refuse to discuss the matter of two sheriff’s deputies losing their lives at the Arlen Briggs residence by saying they do not wish to politicize those deaths, and indicating that anyone who raises that subject is in some manner sullying the two deputies that lost their life.
I would like to remind those persons that in my opinion when an incumbent sheriff or any other office holder seeks re-election he or she opens the books on their past performance in that office in order to justify their re-election. Thus it would seem to me that all aspects of the operations and management of the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office including the death of two deputies are open to questions, and answers, and then let the voters decide. To do otherwise in my opinion may in someway validate the accusations of cronyism that have been mentioned.
Any man or woman asking the voters to return them to office should be ready and willing to stand on their total, and complete record, and not just the issues and matters they choose to discuss.
I would like to bring the $8 million, 40-townhouse project to your attention. I too along with my business partner looked at a similar project about 1 1/2 years ago. We looked at constructing a 16-unit project. They were two- and three-bedroom units. We were also looking to fill a need for more affordable housing in the area. Now this is where our story gets interesting.
Our first thought was maybe we can secure some sort of financial help with this project from the government so our first call was to Trehab and Mr. Dennis Phelps. I now know the understanding of what cold shoulder means. They had no interest in helping or telling us where to go to seek help. We weren’t looking for free money or grants, just low-interest loans or a guaranteed loan. This is where the government agency guarantees up to 80 percent of the loan to the bank. We called every government agency you could think of with little results. Finally Rep. Tina Picket came through and set up a meeting to try and find financial help. We did end up finding a loan guarantee program but we missed the cutoff date. By now I was starting to understand how the system worked.
Most of these programs have a cutoff date in which to apply for the grants. They also have a set amount of money to give out. Once the money is gone you must wait and apply next year. That means the more money I apply for, the less money other people can get. Most of these programs are also set up for non-profit organizations. That was no big deal, though, because anyone can become non-profit. All you have to do is become director of your organization and pay yourself a big salary. I wouldn’t be surprised if the board of directors of most non-profit organizations don’t get paid too.
We were looking to put up 16 units with a total cost of about $800,000. That works out to about $50,000 per unit. That was turn key and included the cost of the land. The more units you put in, the lower your average per-unit cost will be. Now let’s look at Trehab’s project, $8 million for 40 townhouses. Wow, that is a big number, but I will try and do the math. Per unit cost of $200,000. Now I am pretty sure that is more that most of us spent on our homes. Remember this is low-income. They plan on paying property taxes if they can. My problem is the $450 a month they will charge in rent is about $1,200 less than I would have to charge to just cover a mortgage on a $200,000 home, not including property taxes and insurance. My partner and I planned on paying property taxes but I wouldn’t mind getting on this program with my own home. I feel like I qualify as non-profit. It would be interesting to see what Trehab is paying in taxes on the Golden Eagle. They put $1.1 million into remodeling it so I would say it should be assessed at around $1.5 million to $2 million. Maybe someone should go look it up; I think we would all be surprised. I was also thinking that if the citizens of Bradford county started their own non-profit organization and then sold their homes to the organization they could avoid paying property taxes or at least only pay what they could afford to pay, or felt like paying. Get rid of your $100,000 mortgage and pay the organization $250 a month rent since your rent won’t actually have to reflect the value of your home. What a great deal.
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