AUBURN - Business vs. working class perspectives peppered a debate for the seat in the 129th Assembly District Tuesday as incumbent Brian Kolb (R) and challenger Noah Sargent (D) kicked off a series of television forums.

Kolb's view stemmed from an eight-year stint as Assemblyman and his long-time business career.

“I am going to provide a voice for everyone who works and lives in this district,” Kolb said. “I will continue to work on behalf of residents and businesses.”

Sargent, from a working family, took up the blue-collar banner.

“There needs to be more of a working class voice in Albany,” he said.

“It's about time that Albany had some working class values.”

They also opposed each other's views on taxes.

Kolb voted down the circuit-breaker tax credit (a tax credit weighing personal income against excess property taxes).

He supported the Suozzi Commission's 4 percent property-tax cap and a circuit-breaker provision for people on fixed incomes.

He criticized the Assembly's “one-house bill” that raised $2.9 million in new taxes with $1.9 million for circuit-breaker legislation, but $700 million more unallocated.

“I do not believe that taxing our way out is the way to go,” he said. “You have to have some ceiling to stop spending.”

Sargent called New York's tax structure “regressive.” Those with the lowest incomes pay 20 percent in taxes while the top 1 percent pay 6.8 percent.

He favored the circuit breaker, comparing the tax cap to a fixed-rate mortgage.

“We don't want people to contribute 4 percent every year,” he said.

Raising taxes on millionaires to include relief for 94 percent of those in the 129th District, Sargent said, would lift tax burdens on homeowners, municipalities, and school districts.

Both men advocated spending cuts. Kolb singled out state hiring, early retirement incentives, Medicare waste and other agencies, examining every department for possible spending reductions.

Sargent would look at every municipality to see what it could afford, working from the bottom up with recipients of state funding and all state-run agencies to find budget cuts without affecting services.

Sargent suggested dropping member-item spending and consolidating municipal services.

“You can't take back what's been appropriated,” Kolb said, “but you can look at those that have been set aside.” Any unused member-item expenditures could create savings.

“There are no sacred cows in the budget,” he said.

With different takes on universal health care, Sargent had no answer for how to pay for “every cent,” while Kolb stressed business and labor groups working together to address health care.

Sargent advocated preventive medicine, recalling his experience in the military.

“If the vets' hospital is good enough for the military, why not for U.S. taxpayers?” he asked. “Be proactive, not reactive - it costs more.”

Give family practitioners who treat the uninsured a tax write-off to take care of illnesses before they are too advanced, he said.

Kolb disagreed.

“The government doesn't do a good job,” he said. “Vets aren't getting the services they need because it costs money.”

The candidates mostly agreed on member-item spending, abortion, capital punishment, and driver's licenses for illegal aliens. Both believed member-item monies should be divvied according to population, with one amount for senators, less for assemblymen.

They criticized redistricting (“gerrymandering”) to preserve a majority status. Kolb said serving five counties of 1,162 square miles is difficult and is necessary but almost impossible to set up an independent redistricting commission to be fair.

Neither supports Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Sargent believes three two-term limits for the speaker would help curb his power, but both candidates approve of Gov. Paterson, applauding his leadership during the financial crisis.

The $1.2 billion giveaway to Saratoga chip plants was approved by both candidates. Sargent said it led to more jobs and people staying in the state.

Kolb said the money could lead to a significant benefit, a ripple effect. Both favored lower taxes and energy costs to encourage development. Sargent stressed a superior workforce and Kolb advocated taking away tax and energy barriers from business.

“My greatest joy is to help my constituents solve their problems,” Kolb said. “I'm looking out for them and represent them in Albany and back home.”

“We need people in Albany who feel our pain,” Sargent said. “We're in a bad spot in Albany. It took a long time to get there.”

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net