Ulysses supervisor candidates discuss budget priorities, recreational spaces

More than 80 people packed into the First Presbyterian Church of Ulysses’ Fellowship Hall earlier this month for a forum where the two candidates running for town supervisor discussed their visions for the future.

Town Supervisor Katelin Olson, a Democrat who has served in the role since 2022, is being challenged by independent candidate Katy Walker, who currently works as the operations manager at two restaurants in Interlaken: Cayuga Shoreline and O’Malley’s Lakeside Tavern.

The hour-long forum on Oct. 19 was hosted by the Ulysses Community Council and moderated by the League of Women Voters of Tompkins County. A recording of the forum can be found on the League of Women Voters’ YouTube channel. The election for town supervisor is on Tuesday, Nov. 4.   

Both candidates began with opening statements, with Olson describing herself as a small business owner, a mother of five children, an educator and the child of an aging parent on a fixed income. Olson said that she first moved to the area from southern California in 2009 to start a Ph.D. program at Cornell University, before deciding with her husband to stay in the town permanently. She said that she’s running for a second four-year term to continue investing in the town that she loves.

“As we live through the chaos of D.C. politics, I’m pleased to report that the state of the Ulysses government is healthy and vibrant,” Olson said. “Cooperation is not a dirty word to me, but a fundamental responsibility of the town supervisor. I have focused my term on building partnerships with local, regional and state partners because I know Ulysses is stronger when we work together.” 

Olson has received endorsements from elected leaders, including Trumansburg Mayor Rordan Hart, Tompkins County Legislator Anne Koreman and state Assemblywoman Anna Kelles.

Walker, who is running under her ‘Ulysses United’ party, introduced herself as a single mother who raised two children in the town, a former bartender and human services worker and a former director of housing programs for low-income Tompkins County residents, a job she held for 13 years. Walker, who first moved to Ulysses in 1979 and said that her campaign has the support of a “wide array of community leaders,” also described herself as a “founding father” of the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance, an annual festival that has drawn more than 15,000 attendees to the Trumansburg Fairgrounds in recent summers. The festival began in 1991 as a way to raise money to combat the AIDS epidemic.

“I’m not a politician,” Walker said, noting that she has never held elected office. “I’m your neighbor, I’m hard working, I’m empathetic, I’m creative and energetic. I’m a lifelong learner who is fascinated with how teams and organizations work.” 

Qualifications to lead

Olson highlighted accomplishments from her tenure as town supervisor, including helping to put together the town’s 2026 preliminary budget, which was unanimously approved by the town board at its Oct. 14 meeting. The approximately $4.2 million fiscal plan is an increase in spending by just over $192,000, or 4.8%, from this year, and would fall under the state-imposed tax cap.

The proposed budget would increase the tax levy, the amount of revenue the town generates from property taxes, by just under $53,000, or about 3.1%. Comparatively, the levy went up by 5% in the 2025 budget and by 3.5% in 2024. 

“[The proposed budget] invests in our infrastructure, funds our incredible volunteer fire department and village ambulance services and keeps our roads safe,” Olson said. 

The town board plans to adopt the preliminary budget at a public hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at Ulysses Town Hall, located at 10 Elm St. in Trumansburg, unless substantial changes are deemed necessary.    

Walker said that she has never worked on a town budget before but that she’s “looking forward to learning” more about the process if elected.

“I don’t know the budget. I’m not familiar with line items in the budget,” Walker said. “I can learn what it takes to know the budget. I’m an amazingly good listener, especially when I don’t know what the answer is.”

Despite not having served in local government, Walker said that her nearly five decades of experience working with nonprofit organizations and diverse teams across the region make her qualified to lead the town.

“Very few town supervisors come into this position with experience. They learn on the job,” Walker said. “[Katelin’s] been here a long time, and she’s had wonderful opportunities to learn and grow in the position. I would like those same opportunities.”

However, Walker said that she wasn’t as knowledgeable about certain town projects as she’d like to be. The candidates were asked to comment on the town’s comprehensive plan, an effort that town officials have spent years getting public input on to determine goals and a cohesive vision for the community over the next 20 years. 

“I really don’t have anything intelligent to say about [the plan] right now,” Walker said, noting that she looked forward to learning more about it in the future.  

Olson, who is a member of the town’s Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, said that the comprehensive plan is being finalized. 

“This really sets the vision of the town for the next 20 years, and what we hear from the public is they want a diversity of housing options, publicly accessible land and more opportunities for our youth and recreation.”    

Essential services and federal funding

When asked about her town spending priorities, Olson said that more than 42% of the tax levy in the proposed budget would pay for fire and ambulance services, costs that she said are rising by about 7%.

The town contracts with Trumansburg’s ambulance company for emergency medical services, which Olson said the town contributes the largest amount of funding to operate. She said that about 12% of the company’s ambulance calls go outside of the town, while residents in municipalities such as Enfield and Ithaca don’t pay for their own ambulance services in their property taxes.    

“We have a system that is dying, and it is the biggest crisis we are confronting. It is the biggest thing I worry about,” Olson said. “Our tax base cannot deal with year-after-year increases of 7%.” 

Olson said that she is working with the Tompkins County Council of Governments, an association of local governments that collaborate on services, to petition Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill that would “recognize that counties need to take collective action on this issue.”   

Walker agreed that funding EMS and fire services, as well as supporting county social services, was “critically important.” Walker also said that she worried about the impact wide-ranging federal spending cuts could have on the town.

“What we’re seeing at the federal level is very scary,” Walker said. “We’re looking at our medical coverage being eroded. We’re looking at our benefits for older people being eroded.”     

Walker added that, as an independent candidate, she would help bridge political divides within the town, which is made up of predominantly Democratic voters.   

While Olson said that the town doesn’t receive any direct federal funds, she noted that state infrastructure funding is often supported by federal dollars and that she has been working with town officials to secure additional outside funding for “deteriorating” roads and other projects.

Creating recreational spaces

Olson and Walker agreed that the town needs more recreational spaces for people of all ages.

Walker said that she’s “pro-recreation,” but that she would do more to survey as many community members as possible before moving forward with land purchases and other recreational developments. She added that she was “thrilled” that the town of Ulysses, in partnership with the village of Trumansburg and the town of Covert, formed a coalition in 2023 to manage a new 90-acre state park at the former Boy Scout Camp Barton property.   

Olson, who played a key role in the project, said that the coalition, dubbed the Three Falls Local Development Corporation, was the result of community action and perseverance.

“We are the only organization like this in New York state of three municipalities crossing political lines, crossing municipal lines, but collectively coming together to say this is an important asset,” she said.

Olson also lauded residents Marvin and Allison Pritts for donating an approximately 15-acre parcel on Cold Springs Road to the town earlier this year, which is set to become the town’s first public park. Olson encouraged residents to complete an online survey to provide input on how the site should be used, which can be found on the town’s website.

“It’s an incredibly generous offer that the Prittses gave us because the town does not have its own public recreational park and it never has, so this is a once-in-a-lifetime, unique opportunity,” she said. 

Another forthcoming change in Ulysses is that about half of the seats on the five-member town board will be filled by new trustees next year. Walker and Olson said that they would look forward to working with Tom Knipe and Steve Manley, the two Democratic town board candidates who are running, if elected as town supervisor.  

Olson said that she has led the town with transparency and accountability, and pledged to prioritize fiscally responsible decision-making in a second term.

“After my nearly four years as town supervisor, Ulysses is stronger, more resilient and better prepared to address the challenges of the 21st century,” she said.       

Walker said that she is running to provide voters with a choice in the election and pledged to speak to as many people as she could, from town residents to government officials, to make the most informed decisions at town hall.    

“I’m not afraid to ask for help, and I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel,” Walker said. “Local politics is the closest we have come to a real and functioning democracy. This is where our vote really makes a difference.”

Walker added, “I’ve learned a lot about the job just sitting here with [Katelin] today.”