Sen. Jen Metzger Opens Campaign Headquarters

GOSHEN – Senator Jen Metzger (D-Rosendale) officially launched her campaign for reelection in the 42nd district, opening her campaign headquarters on Main Street in Goshen with the rest of the area’s Democratic slate, sharing a major focus on school funding as it relates to property taxes.

Metzger is running alongside Maria Patrizio for Orange County Family Court Judge, Paul Trachte for Orange County Court Judge, and Sarita Bhandarkar for the 99th Assembly district.

Metzger maintains she is continuing her push for increased regional food usage, economic development that supports small businesses and employs the local community, focusing on green energy, closing the broadband gap within the state and promoting farm-to-table and farm-to-school programs, but feels public school funding will be a significant focus this term.

“A major priority is to fix the way we fund public schools in New York State, reducing the reliance on property taxes, which is a huge burden on homeowners and it’s also creating real inequality in access to educational resources among districts that just don’t have the tax base to give the kids the resources they need,” said Metzger.

Her running mate Bhandarkar said, as an attorney who represents the elderly, current property taxes create an obstacle for maintaining the life they worked for.

“I meet with a lot of people who, when they’re sick and when they’re old and when they’re on fixed income, trying to stay in the community and they’re healthcare costs are going up- property taxes are one of the main concerns they have because they want to stay in the house they’ve had they’re whole life,” said Bhandarkar. “I think one of the main ways to fix that is shifting the burden of school taxes so it’s not so much on property taxes, that you’re looking at other revenue sources to fund our schools,” she said.

The Democratic nominees are supporting phone banking for this elections’ run, compared to the regular boots-on-the-ground methods, to be mindful of the pandemic and not spreading it further during the pre-election.

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