Pagones ends 25-year stint in Fishkill town government

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Pagones ends 25-year stint in Fishkill town government

FISHKILL – Joan Pagones conducted her last Fishkill Town Board meeting as town supervisor Wednesday as her 20 year run in that post comes to an end. She was a town councilwoman for five years before that.

Pagones ran unopposed during a few past elections and rode high in popularity for years until the town faced a large deficit a couple of years ago. She credited the recession with negatively impacting Fishkill.

“Chalk that up to the housing market falling in, the businesses that failed, the foreclosures that happened with residents and all of a sudden we went from a thriving community of receiving $1.6 million in housing revenues down to about $500,000,” she said.

Pagones said the town’s five year plan of making up the deficit should be on target, if not paid off sooner and she said the town should end this year with a surplus.

Pagones will be replaced by town Councilman Robert LaColla, who won the top job in the November election.

As for Pagones’ future, she plans to continue her volunteer work with not-for-profit agencies.

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Even at the end, Pagones continues to not tell the truth.

Supervisor Pagones stated in September 2010 that she had put a plan in place to eliminate the deficit within five years. Pagones said she based the deficit-reduction plan on a worst-case scenario, which would pay down the deficit each year until the deficit was eliminated. She planned to make the first payment in 2011 for $594,000. In the public hearing for the 2012 budget, the town’s comptroller stated that that the town would not be able to make the payment. He cited a shortfall in the 2011 budget of approximately $320,000. Wheeling had previously stated that the deficit reduction plan does not address any increases to the deficit after the 2008 period of the State’s audit report.

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