Riverhead Town Assessor (2 Seats Open)

Haas, 64, is running on the Republican and Conservative lines. The former real estate title examiner is running for another four-year term.

• He pointed to cutting outside legal work in favor of in-house attorneys as a key accomplishment, an annual savings of about $55,000, a change that also helped reduce losses in grieved assessments.
• He said he has been especially dedicated to helping people who were mistakenly rejected for STAR tax credits due to confusion from the state’s recent changes in the program.
• The 12-year veteran of the office said he championed digitization of property records, which saved the office money and also made it easier for people to access records.

REPUBLICAN

Lipinsky, 40, is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

• She said she brings two key advantages to the job: She was born and raised in Riverhead, giving her a deep familiarity with the communities in town, and she has been a real estate title examiner for 18 years.
• She noted that the fate of Enterprise Park in Calverton, one of the town’s most important issues, will also be a key focus for the assessor’s office.
• The political newcomer pledged to be nonpartisan in the job and keep an open-door policy.

DEMOCRATIC

Taylor, 39, is running on the Democratic, Working Families and Independence lines. She is the mother of two sons.

• She considers high property taxes to be one of the town’s biggest problems and seeks the post because she believes the town workforce does not reflect the diversity in Riverhead’s communities.
• She cites her master’s degree in business administration, attention to detail and commitment to minorities as key advantages.
• Her volunteer activities include counseling rape victims, working with the Suffolk Board of Elections and doing toy drives with the Family Service League.

DEMOCRATIC

Thomas, 41, a library media specialist aide, is running for office for the first time. She is a business administrator for a real estate company, and is running on Democratic and Independence party lines.

• She pledged to have an open-door policy because an assessor was never around or available for her in 10 years of trips to the office for maps, surveys and information.
• The Panama native said her bilingual skills and sense of humor would be a plus in efforts to improve communications with the public and reach out more to explain tax exemptions.
• She cited the Enterprise Park in Calverton as a major business project and would act as a watchdog to ensure the contract clauses and companies coming in are good for residents.