OK, that’s an exaggeration, but there’s no diminishing native son Elliott Auerbach’s role in saving his hometown from the brink of financial ruin this year.

As far as anybody could figure, Ellenville was functionally bankrupt when incoming mayor Evan Trent fired former village manager Mike Warren and brought in Auerbach to replace him.

At that point, Ellenville was about a million dollars in debt, almost all from uncollected taxes and water bills. Auerbach, with all hands on deck, organized a debt collection drive that over the spring and summer brought in almost all the unpaid bills.

After working as a “dollar-a-year man” — “actually, it was a quarter” — he likes to say, Auerbach, with books balanced for real, took his leave late last month.

Going forward, the village, which has enjoyed a post-Covid revival, will have less to worry about property tax collections. Under a county law that went into effect in November, the county will collect delinquent taxes for Ulster’s four villages, as it does for the towns and school districts, and cut them a check for the outstanding amounts.

Auerbach, after serving several terms as village mayor and manager, was elected the county’s first comptroller in 2009. In 2019 he took a position as deputy to the state comptroller. He retired last June.

Proud to call himself “a village boy, born and bred,” Auerbach has seen Ellenville through the best of times, the worst, and now trending better. They oughta give that man a dinner.

Speaking of Finances

One of the issues Ellenville, and every other municipality in the state, will have to deal with next year is double-digit increases from the state comptroller for their retirees.

At first, I thought that increases of near 30 percent in some towns might have been the under- performance of the state comptroller’s near-$270 billion retirement fund, but no. According to the comptroller’s office, the fund earned 11.6 percent year-to-year (over $30 billion) as of the end of its fiscal year in March. And it’s only increased since.

The problem, the state tells us, is in the higher salaries being paid public workers. In days of yore, a county worker, for instance, might sign on for say $30,000 a year and retire after 35 years at maybe $50,000.

“These days,” they tell us on the sixth floor, “you can’t find anybody for less than a hundred thousand.” That anonymous quote came from one of those six-figure top tier-management types. County unions might take a different view.

At the other end of the pay line, the legislature this week was expected for approve a “minimum wage” for new county hires of $17 an hour and change. Plus pension and health care.

That the state is earning envious increases from its investments, which it uses to offset pension charges to localities, and it’s still charging municipalities substantial sums to support the pension system, should be cause for concern.

President Biden turned 82 on Wednesday, extending his record as the oldest sitting president.

Happy birthday, Chief. I wonder if Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney sent him a nice card.

As far as I know, nobody’s called soon-to-be former Republican Congressman Marc Molinaro from Washington with a job offer. Molinaro conceded to Democrat Josh Riley after it became apparent absentee ballots weren't going his way.

Molinaro will probably take a week or two off to decompress, after which he’ll be on the unemployment line. He said he wants to remain in public service, but where?

He might check in with fellow congressional one-termer John Faso of Kinderhook for guidance. The well-connected Faso, a former assemblyman, hooked up with a Washington-based lobbying outfit after being defeated by Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck in 2016.

No More Regents?

New York is in the process of joining a host of other states that have eliminated what we call “Regents exams” for high school students.

Having suffered the angst of taking “the Regents,” I have mixed feelings. A good mark on the Regents can salvage a course which otherwise might be only mediocre. At our school, a kid could go into the Regents with a 65 average in that course, ace the test with an 85, and be given that as a final grade.

On the other hand, statewide Regents tests, uniformly administered, could give educators a guideline on where they stand with their peers.

When I was in high school, I was a member of a sweat-hog geometry class that barely got passing grades for almost the entire year.

Our teacher, a World War II veteran, advised us at the beginning of the last marking period that instead of reviewing what we had learned during the course of the year, we would study the Regents.

“There’s no point in review,” he said, “because you guys didn’t learn anything all year. And if all of you flunk the Regents, I’m out of a job. We’re going to study the Regents.”

Swearing us to secrecy, our teacher outlined his plan. After careful examination, he said, he had discovered a predictable pattern in state geometry Regents tests. It was like counting cards in Vegas. We would study and memorize the five theorems he was certain would be on the final.

We looked at each other in amazement. Regents’ exams were the best-kept secret in education. Nobody knew what was going to be on them.

He nailed it. I think the class average on those Regents’ tests was about 90 percent. We still didn’t know much about geometry, but our teacher kept his job.

Mario and Me

My WGHQ radio partner Mario Catalano and I will do a deep dive on the subject of state education on Friday morning. Our guest in the 8 to 8:30 a.m. slot will be a representative from the Siena College/New York Times poll to discuss this year’s elections. The show is at 920 on your AM dial; to watch or stream it later click https://vimeo.com/user173056939.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer; they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Kingston Wire Editorial Team.