Candidates sparring for local office in next week’s elections face a bewildering array of statistics they can use to tout their own financial achievements or criticize their opponents’ fiscal failures. Though the numbers are often confusing and occasionally misleading, there are legitimate methods of budget analysis that can be helpful in judging the financial performance of incumbent office holders.

As a case in point, we’ve focused on one contested race where finances are at the center of the campaign and where the stakes are high: the race for supervisor of Columbia County’s largest town, Kinderhook, where the four-term incumbent, Douglas McGivney, is running against Gary Strevell, who has served since 2003 as Mayor of Valatie, one of the incorporated villages within the town.

Our budget analysis indicates that both Valatie and Kinderhook Town have built up admirable fiscal records under their current leadership, compared to most other municipalities in the region. Though the analysis does not touch on the quality of services provided by either candidate during his tenure in office and in no way reflects an overall endorsement, the edge for financial achievement would have to go to Mr. McGivney.

Among the most important figures in assessing budget discipline are the level and growth of property taxes raised to support municipal services. Kinderhook’s property taxes for all town services, including fire protection, have grown 39% since 2004, somewhat higher than the 30% average for 28 towns in the region that we monitor in the Budget Scorecard Database .

Local property taxes in Valatie have increased 48% over the same period-- primarily to help finance repairs and expansions of the village’s water and sewer facilities—more than twice the 20% average growth of similar villages in the area.

The absolute level of property taxes per resident also favors Kinderhook, which in the current year levied $120 for each of its 8,300 residents, 3,000 of whom live in incorporated villages and pay taxes to the town as well as to their village. Even after excluding village residents from the calculation, the town tax levy of $187 per capita is still among the very lowest of all towns in Columbia and northern Dutchess counties.

Valatie’s property taxes per resident are also very low, at $140, but the figure is somewhat misleading. In order finance extensive road, water and sewer improvements without raising additional taxes, Valatie has since the late 1990s maintained a very high debt load, currently topping $3 million. If we add to the tax levy the annual expense of servicing this debt, the per capita cost this year rises to about $300, in line with the average for ten similar villages in the region.

Kinderhook, with no debt on its books over the past four years, has maintained one of the lowest per capita property tax levies in the region; Valatie’s spending per resident, including annual debt service, is around the average the for other small villages in the area.

Mayor Strevell’s campaign has been critical of Kinderhook’s spending growth, not its tax levy, since Mr. McGivney became supervisor in 2000. A comparison of growth in spending for all services shows Kinderhook’s expenses growing 12% between 2004 and 2007 while Valatie’s total expenses have grown 21%.

Comparing the expense growth of Valatie to Kinderhook may be of limited value as Mr. Strevell, like most village mayors, has had to grapple with the very expensive burden of upgrading an aging water and sewer system while Mr. McGivney has been spared this costly challenge.

It is impossible to say, from the results of our analysis, which candidate is better qualified to serve as Kinderhook supervisor in the years ahead. What we can say, though, is that the town’s fiscal performance under Mr. McGivney has been commendable and, on some key measures, outshines even the very sound financial track record of his opponent.