Assessor, Town Justice, Town Clerk, Tax Receiver

The Nov. 5 ballot will feature uncontested races for the positions of town justice, town clerk and tax receiver.

However, there is competition for four-year term on the Board of Assessors, whose members determine the value of property for taxing purposes.

Longtime Republican assessor Paul Leszczynski opted not to seek re-election this year.

• Republican incumbent Mason Haas, 64, lives in Jamesport with his wife, Maureen, and has been an elected assessor since 2007.

He previously managed a land title business for 25 years. In addition to his job as assessor, Mr. Haas has been a past board member of the Police Athletic League, a former chief of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps, a board member of Heidi’s Helping Angels, an elected commissioner of the Jamesport Fire District, a firefighter in the Jamesport Fire Department and a member of Riverhead Town’s East Creek advisory committee.

• Meredith Lipinsky, 40, of Wading River, the other Republican candidate, has 18 years of experience and knowledge in the real estate industry. She has experience working with the county’s Office of Real Property Tax Services and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware.

Ms. Lipinsky said at the Republican nominating convention in February that Mr. Haas convinced her to run, and she soon learned that she already has many of the skills needed to be an assessor through her experience in the private sector, where she has worked as real land transfer title examiner.

“I’m already partially trained for this job,” she said at the time.

• Democrat Tara Taylor, 39, of Riverhead has a master’s degree in of business administration with a concentration in accounting. She is a bookkeeper and accountant and has served as a rape crisis counselor for the Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk County.

• Democrat Jaraby Thomas, 41, of Wading River has been a teaching assistant since 2005 and in 2013 became a library media specialist assistant for the Riverhead school district. She is also a part-time business administrator at Landmark Realty of Long Island and Cyber Display Systems in Wading River. She has a master’s degree in neuropsychology and education and a degree in business administration. A native of Panama, she speaks fluent Spanish and worked as a translator and a tutor advocate for Eastern Suffolk BOCES.

Both Democratic candidates are also backed by the Independence party and Ms. Taylor has the Working Families line as well.

The two Republican candidates also have Conservative Party backing.

Running unopposed for town justice is incumbent Lori Hulse, running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines.

Also unopposed for reelection is Tax Receiver Laurie Zaneski, running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

Finally, longtime incumbent Democrat Diane Wilhelm is alone on the ballot for town clerk, a position she’s held since 2008. She also has the Working Families and Independence lines.