PAWLING — “It has been a pleasure to serve the people of my district,” said Alan V. Surman, incumbent Dutchess County Legislator (R-24), running for re-election. District 24 includes Dover and Union Vale. Surman is also running on the Conservative line. He’s been serving in the Legislature since 2009 and just finished his sixth term in office. He’s hoping for a seventh.
Surman is on several committees, including the Environment Committee (chair), Public Works and Capital Projects Committee (vice chair) and the Environment Sub-Committee to Interview Candidates for Appointments.
He also serves on the Public Works and Capital Projects Sub-Committee to Interview Candidates for Appointments; the Benefit Assessment Review Board; and especially important to many residents since the COVID pandemic hit, emphasizing the need for remote education, the Wireless Network Committee.
Surman is additionally on the E-911 Oversight Board Committee; Dutchess County’s Enhanced 9-1-1 system. This added benefit means when a caller dials 9-1-1, the address and phone number from which the caller placed the call is displayed on a screen at the County’s 9-1-1 center or at a backup site in the city of Poughkeepsie. That automatically identifies the location of a caller, and “is key to providing a quick response to those in need,” said Surman.
The legislator is also a member on the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Task Force program, which started in 2018, and created a network of New York municipalities seeking to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources while reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and increase communities’ resiliency to the impacts of climate change.
He has worked on supporting the Northeast Dutchess Transit, a nonprofit, through a competitive grant he said the county was also seeking, because the former was filling the void in transportation services the county wasn’t providing.
Early in his legislative career he had to deal with was the sudden closure of a bridge on Ridge Road. The replacement was not scheduled for about four years. For a few hundred residences in the area this would have meant added 20 to 30 minutes of driving on Route 22, impacting transportation routes for local schools and local emergency services, said Surman. He said he was able to find a temporary bridge in Orange County that the state lent the county for free after much research, discussion and negotiation.
“Less dramatic but equally important work,” he said, “I have been making sure the taxpayers get the most bang for the buck. The county has either remained well under the tax cap or reduced taxes every year I have been in office. The 2022 budget will be no different, with the largest reduction in property taxes in the past 20 years. The county will also be increasing the ‘rainy day’ fund, which is important in the current economic climate. Dutchess County has the best bond rating in New York State, which only comes with sound fiscal management.”
Surman is married and lives in Pawling.
