Revitalizing Brockport is the aim of the village’s mayor-elect.
“Such as promoting the canal,” says Margay Blackman, the Village Trustee, who ousted incumbent Connie Castañeda on Tuesday in a re-election bid.
Blackmans says the village is applying for grant funding to make canal front enhancements and improvements to Main Street.
Other priorities include: tackling Brockport's high tax rate, and encouraging homeownership to increase the village’s tax base and quality of life.
“We're talked about looking into forming a kind of big umbrella or committee or board, which would be like a municipal housing authority sort of thing that would look at the issue of housing in the village."
Blackman says it would be a major undertaking and would take time to address. Brockport has a large number of renters. Blackman says nearly 70-percent of its residents are tax-exempt due to the college. She says she hopes to partner with the college to encourage its employees to buy homes in the village.
In an effort to keep taxes low, something Castañeda worked to do under her leadership. Blackman says she wants to look at increasing non-tax revenues by going after delinquent parking tickets.
"We successfully found a collection agency the works with the justice courts,” Blackmans says “We just learned that the first month's take of delinquent parking ticket … fines was $14,000. We're going to continue to do things like that."
Blackman says the issue of dissolving the Village into the Town of Sweden could resurface during her term. The idea first came up in 2010. Blackman claims the Village is in good financial shape, and the administration is committed to improving and growing the village to its fullest potential.
Beginning this weekend, Blackman says she plans to talk with village employees and department heads to find out what she needs to know as a mayor. She calls it her "Hilary Clinton listening tour".