Dear Readers:
On Wednesday 04/25/07 I will be meeting with the Yorktown Republican Nominating committee to make my case why I should be their choice for candidate to the Yorktown Town Council. I will keep you informed.
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Dear Readers:
Today (04/17/07) Putnam Valley Supervisor Sam Davis traveled to Albany to testify to a Legislative Committee on School Taxes. He is proposing an actual means to reign in the burden of high school taxes. Unlike most politicians who speak pabulum and band-ade answers to the problem of school taxes, Supervisor Davis is proposing a complete overhaul of our way of taxing to finance schools. You wanted a reformer as Supervisor when you elected him and this proves you have one. If you ever needed a reason to re-elect him, this is it. Try to remember the last time a public official actually proposed a solution who's beauty is in it's simplicity and fairness, not robbing Peter to pay Paul (read favorite special interest). I heartily endorse this proposal.
THE SUPERVISOR'S TESTIMONY:
Hello. My name is Sam Davis. I am the supervisor of the Town of Putnam Valley. I want to thank you for holding this hearing, and for allowing me to speak today.
I first want to speak about problems with the assessment process itself. Putnam Valley is a small town of about 11,500 people. Many of the homes started out as summer cottages and were later winterized. They are not cookie cutter houses. The diversity is enormous. This often makes it difficult to find comparable's. Therefore, the assessments on large numbers of our homes are no more than guesswork. Often, the selling prices of homes are vastly different than the assessed value. This is just evidence of the awful inadequacy of the system. I could go on about this topic for some time, but the truth is, the lack of reality in the assessment process is perhaps the least important problem with the system. Much more important is the fact that it is a horribly unfair way to tax people. Let us examine an easy example: Consider two identical houses on identical properties. For the sake of drama, and for clarity of the point, we'll assume that the family in one of these homes earns $50,000 dollars a year, while the other earns $2,000,000. The shocking and disturbing reality is that they both pay the same property taxes. This is clearly an extreme example, yet it illustrates the inherent unfairness of this method of taxation. People with vastly different ability to pay their taxes feel the burden of those taxes vastly differently. For the one, it is a horrible onus, while for the other it is hardly noticed. Now let’s consider further the effect of these taxes on our citizens. The most obvious effect is that increasingly, people are being forced to sell their homes and abandon their neighborhoods. Many must leave the state. It is heartbreaking to see the pain and loss of people forced to leave their friends and families by this archaic and mean spirited form of taxation.
Sometimes, instead of selling their homes, residents have enough property to subdivide and sell off lots in order to earn enough income to stay in their homes. Clearly, this illustrates the pressure that property taxes put on the maintenance of open space. Worse yet, the new homes built on the subdivided property drive school taxes up further. An example of this in Putnam Valley is a proposed 14 lot subdivision called Emerald Ridge. There will be 13 new homes each with 4 or 5 bedrooms. Let's project that each of these homes will pay school taxes of $8,000.00 per year for a total of $104,000.00. Let's further project that they will put another 20 students in our schools. With a cost per student of about $20,000.00 per year, that will total $400,000.00. The difference of almost $300,000.00 will have to be made up by our existing residents. It is not hard to see how this system forces residents to have to sell their homes or subdivide their properties. Another, less obvious effect is the way this tears at the fabric of our neighborhoods. As the turn over of population exceeds the natural, evolutionary rate, it destroys continuity, ripping apart the sense of family and community. This is a devastating result of our skyrocketing property taxes.
Yet another problem for our municipalities is that as the portion of our housing which is affordable shrinks, we lose our workforce. As that happens, it becomes harder and harder to maintain our volunteer fire departments and ambulance corps. Going to paid emergency services would force out accelerated numbers of our residents because paid services are prohibitively more costly than are volunteer services. While any property tax is unfair, the school taxes are by far the most damaging because they are the greatest part of our property tax burden. If a drastic change is not soon forthcoming, the exodus from our state will speed up. Before too long, New York will house only the very wealthy and the very poor. Further, regarding school taxes, this system has created a terribly uneven playing field. Wealthy communities offer their children everything, while poor communities offer far less. Our public schools should provide the same advantages for all of our children. No matter their background, our children all deserve the same high quality of education.
Clearly, it is past time for action. I call on you to serve your constituents; your employers. In the name of the residents of my Town, and of municipalities throughout the state, I ask that you do away with property tax funding of schools and move to statewide income tax funding for residents. Dealing with commercial enterprises will naturally have to be handled differently. You are our experts. You can work that out. But for the sake of our people, our neighborhoods, and the future of this great state, you must do so now.
Thank you.
Dear Readers:
The above represents a NEW IDEA that does not punish the middle class. The next article you will read represents the status-quo which sticks it to the middle class. The above is an answer, below pabulum.
THIS WAS IN THE JOURNAL NEWS:
Solution sought for Westchester tax inequities
By JAY GALLAGHERGANNETT NEWS SERVICE
(Original publication: April 18, 2007)
ALBANY - Westchester County remains one of the few areas in the state where property-tax assessments are largely out of date, but chances of changing that any time soon are uncertain, a key lawmaker said yesterday.
"Every year that goes by makes it harder," said Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, D-Ossining, who chairs the Assembly Real Property Taxation Committee. "I don't know why we haven't had a lawsuit."
Assessment is the value placed on property for tax purposes. A tax bill is determined by multiplying the assessed value by the tax rate.
Though assessed value is based on the market value of a home, store or other piece of property, it can get out of date if not updated regularly, officials said at a hearing Galef held at the Capitol yesterday. Thus, properties that could fetch the same price if sold have different values for tax purposes.
Local governments in New York collected more than $32 billion in property taxes in 2004, according to the most recent statistics.
About 80 percent of the almost 1,000 towns, villages and cities that assess property place values on them that are roughly comparable, said Joseph Hesch of the state Office of Real Property Services. About one-third of those have assessments that basically match market value, he said.
That's the standard the state wants all municipalities to meet so "people know what their municipality feels their property is worth," he said. But state law doesn't require that: It mandates only that all assessments be at a uniform percentage of value.
Westchester, along with Suffolk County, trails the rest of the state in keeping values up to date, Galef said.
Just four Westchester communities - the towns of Pelham and Rye and the villages of Sleepy Hollow and Bronxville - updated their assessment rolls recently, said Ossining Assessor Josette Polzetta, who testified at the hearing.
Reassessing property doesn't change the overall amount of taxes paid. However, some pay more and others less, which makes it a politically hazardous process.
"The shift would be tremendous," Polzetta said. "That's why we've shied away from it."
As an alternative, Polzetta said she wants to identify properties in her town that are "outliers," with assessments either far too high or low, and reassess them. She said it would be cheaper and cause less disruption than a townwide reassessment while rectifying the greatest discrepancies.
"Will it be perfect? No," she said, "but it will cost only $25,000." She said she is devising a plan to present to the town board.
"I believe it's right," she said, referring to reassessing all properties every few years at 100 percent of market value. "But we have to see why it's not working. It's so volatile."
Galef has introduced bills that, among other things, would require localities to reassess every three years and have condominiums and cooperative apartments assessed on their market value rather than on what their worth would be as rental units. Generally that would mean higher taxes for owners of those properties.
She also wants to establish a "blue ribbon commission" to study assessment practices and property taxes in general.
But she held out little hope any of them would be adopted this year.
"Sometimes you have to put things in writing to get people to talk about them," she said.
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THIS WAS IN THE NORTH COUNTY NEWS:
Yorktown
Board discusses hiring manager to run town
By Adriane Tillman
As Yorktown Supervisor Linda Cooper prepares to leave office at the end of the year, the Town Board discussed the pros and cons of hiring an administrator to run the day-to-day affairs of the town. Under the proposal, discussed at the board’s April 10 work session, the supervisor would focus on policy issues. Activist Susan Siegel requested the board entertain the discussion, having campaigned for the council-manager government form in 1977. Town administrators and village managers from New Castle, Mamaroneck, Irvington and Croton argued the council-manager system frees elected officials to focus on policy, and creates a more cost efficient, standardized form of government.“Elected officials are more responsive. They don’t have to worry about the nitty-gritty,” said Steve Altieri, town administrator of Mamaroneck.Government is increasingly complex with its many departments and regulations and requires someone who has expertise managing a governmental agency, which is different than a private corporation, the administrators and managers agreed.The supervisor’s position then becomes open to a greater cross section of the community – to policeman, artists and housewives, who may not have the management background, Cooper commented. New Castle Town Administrator Jerry Faiella dismissed misconceptions that elected officials relinquish authority to administrators. “It depends what level of authority the board wants to give to the administrator,” he said, adding the board still holds power to sign contracts, hire and fire employees and make policy decisions. The administrator is also accountable to the entire board, not just the supervisor, and requests to the administrator must come from the entire board, according to Faiella. “So there’s synchronization and you’re not working at odds,” he said.The budget process is also less political since the administrator prepares and presents the budget, according to Altieri.Administrators do not usually become politicized and usually don’t change over with board members, Altieri said,“They understand their role as the administrators and not the policy makers,” he said. The council-manager form of government is the most common system across the country, and receives the highest bond ratings for its perceived stability, according to Altieri. “I wouldn’t have run for mayor if we didn’t have an administrator,” said Don Marra,Village Manager of Irvington and the former mayor of Dobbs Ferry.Activist David Frayne said the town should ask entities it works with daily, like real estate agents and supply companies, whether a strong council-manager form of government is more efficient than the mayoral model. Frayne sat on the 1977 committee that studied the council-manager proposal.The Board will set up a committee to further discuss the council-manager system for Yorktown. A decision would require a resolution passed by the board after a public hearing.
MY COMMENTS ON THIS:
Dear Readers:
So now after all these years, there are those in Yorktown Government that thinks our present form or government is not working. Their answer is another layer of bureaucracy in the nature of a City Manager. This form of government puts another layer between those who are elected to run the town and the voters who elect them. An unaccountable to the electorate City Manager is not the answer. This is a case where the status-quo should remain.
No matter the faults of our present system, those who make the decisions (Supervisor and Council) must make their case to the people to which they are now accountable. When you look at the pay our officials receive for this responsibility compared to the surrounding communities, you will notice our officials are well compensated for this burden. As I read the discussion, they want the same pay without the burden.
I do not think paying a city manager for the job we already pay our officials for is in the best interests of the town. I want my elected officials DIRECTLY accountable for their decisions, not being able to hide behind an unelected manager. Good, bad, or indifferent, I believe our present form of governing is in no need of change. If those in office believe the burden is too heavy, or they are no longer up to the task, then they should retire to the private sector and let those who believe they can handle the burden get their chance.
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A MESSAGE FROM PUTNAM VALLEY SUPERVISOR DAVIS:
Dear Readers:
Even though you will read that the Judge dismmised the lawsuit, you will also note the Judge took time to settle the matter surrounding the hiring of Dawn Powell. This vindication of the hiring, removes the main plank of the censure vote, leaving it to stand as the purely partisian political vote that it was.
THE MESSAGE:
From Supervisor Sam Davis to the Readers of The Bazzo Manifesto:
April 9, 2007
SAMUEL DAVIS AND DAWN POWELL V. THE TOWN OF PUTNAM VALLEY TOWN BOARD AND BOARD OF ETHICS
The Honorable Jonathan Lippman of the New York State Supreme Court, Westchester County, ruled on Thursday, April 5, 2007 that Supervisor Davis of the Town of Putnam Valley was not unethical in his hiring of Dawn Powell. Beyond that, he dismissed the Article 78 on procedural grounds. "Notwithstanding this, the court declares that the appointment of petitioner Dawn Powell ('Ms. Powell') to the position of confidential Secretary was not unethical as of January 1, 2006." “ORDERED that it is declared that pursuant to the terms of the November 15, 2006 Town Board Resolution the appointment of Dawn Powell to the position of Confidential Secretary was not unethical as of January 1, 2006, and that the claims raised under Local Law 5 are not ripe for review in the context of this proceeding.”
Supervisor Davis said, "I'm gratified that Judge Lippman stated clearly and unambiguously that my appointment of Dr. Powell is legal and ethical. I researched this carefully before acting, and knew that this appointment was legal and ethical. Dr. Powell has been a real asset to the Town. It would have helped public confidence had the Ethics Board and Town Board acted with respect for the law, instead of divisively, with a political agenda." Dr. Powell commented, "This has been a difficult personal ordeal for me. The arrogance of these public officials, the Town Board and Ethics Board, has not helped the Town, and has squandered public resources. Now that ethics and legality have been clearly identified, I hope that the Swiftboating will stop, and the community can move forward with important issues."
Attorney David Wright brought the suit on behalf of the Supervisor and his Aide.
Sam Davis
Putnam Valley Supervisor
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FYI: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Dear Readers:
I know that I don't normally do national news, however it is important to know how our Democratic Senators vote against our interests.
The following senators voted against making English the official language of America :
Akaka (D-HI) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Clinton (D-NY) Dyton D-MN) Dodd (D-CT) Domenici (R-NM) Durbin (D-IL) . Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Obama (D-IL) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Salazar (D-CO) Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Wyden (D-OR)
Next, following are the senators who voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative:
Alaska : Stevens (R) Arizona : McCain (R) Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D) California : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D) Colorado : Salazar (D) Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D) Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D) Florida : Martinez (R) Hawaii : Akaka (D) Inouye (D) Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D) Indiana: Bayh (D) Lugar (R) Iowa: Harkin (D) Kansas: Brownback (R) Louisiana: Landrieu (D) Maryland: Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D) Massachusetts: Kennedy (D) Kerry (D) Montana: Baucus (D) Nebraska: Hagel (R) Nevada: Reid (D) New Jersey: Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D) New Mexico: Bingaman (D) New York: Clinton (D) Schumer (D) North Dakota : Dorgan (D) Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R) Oregon Wyden (D) Pennsylvania : Specter (R) Rhode Island : Chafee (R)-DUMPED in 2006 Reed (D) South Carolina : Graham (R) South Dakota : Johnson (D) Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D) Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D) West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)
THIS WAS IN THE JOURNAL NEWS BLOG SECTION:
Finally, this is why NOTHING will ever get done regarding illegal immigration. Both powerful special interests (read big business and orginized labor) need illegal labor:
Our Congressional Representative John Hall voted in favor of allowing illegal aliens to vote in union elections Rep. Hall voted against a Motion to Recommit H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007. The Motion to Recommit, introduced by Rep. McKeon (R-CA), would have recommitted H.R. 800 to the Committee on Education and Labor with instructions to report the legislation back to the House with an amendment that would require that all employees allowed to vote in union elections be citizens or legal residents of the United States. This would have prevented illegal aliens from voting in unionization elections. This would have been an important interior enforcement measure because illegal aliens should not be allowed to have an influence in whether a workforce decides to be unionized or to block unionization. Businesses should not be allowed to use illegal aliens to stop unionization desired by its American workers. And unions should not be allowed to use illegal aliens to force unionization on American workers who don't want it. Although some Representatives voted against the Motion to Recommit because it would have delayed final passage of the bill, a vote in favor of the Motion to Recommit was clearly a vote in favor of interior enforcement and against allowing illegal aliens to vote in union elections. Motion to The Motion to Recommit failed by a vote of 202-225.
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THIS WAS IN THE JOURNAL NEWS:
Police seek train-station bandit
By TERENCE CORCORANTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: April 21, 2007)
PEEKSKILL - Police were searching for a man who robbed a taxi driver at knifepoint last week at the train station, then tried to rob another one early yesterday, authorities said.
The second incident happened around 2:45 a.m., when the bandit approached a cabby, pulled out a knife and demanded money, Detective Sgt. Eric Johansen said.
"The intended victim fled before the suspect got anything," Johansen said. "It was more of an attempted robbery."
The first robbery took place around 11:30 p.m. April 13. The robber took out a knife and threatened the driver, Johansen said, and escaped with cash.
Surveillance cameras at the train station captured images of the robber the first time and police asked the public's help in identifying him, Johansen said.
He is described as black, about 30 years old, 5-foot-10 and weighing about 165 pounds. He was wearing a dark coat with its hood up, dark pants and a dark mask over his face. He may have facial hair, police said.
The surveillance photo - an image captured from video - shows the robber in what appears to be a blue jumpsuit, but Johansen said he was wearing like-colored jacket and pants and that the outfit was darker than it appeared in the photo.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 914-737-8000. All calls will be kept confidential, Johansen said.
Reach Terence Corcoran at 845-228-2275 or tcorcora@lohud.com.
MY COMMENTS ON THIS:
Dear Readers:
As most of you know, Tommy and I work down at the train station from 1pm - 1am. If we were not out sick on Friday April 13, that victim could have been us. This is not why I put this article in this weeks blog. This article is here because neither after the first or second incident, were the cab companies notified of the possible danger. Worse still, as many of you also know, I thought I had a good working relationship with the police, yet not one (and these are the ones who have my e-mail address let alone cell phone number) thought to contact me and give me a heads up. I, like you have to read about it a WEEK later in the paper. One would think for the fees we pay to operate out of Peekskill, notification of possible danger would be automatic. This is unacceptable, and I hope those in ELECTED OFFICE who read this will make sure this lack of notification to ALL cab drivers and owners will not happen again. We pay our fees and taxes, we deserve the same protections and warnings the police would give citizens in neighborhoods and apartment buildings where the citizen might be in danger. I may not be best friends with other owners and drivers, but I would not wish this on my worst enemy for we are all at the same risk. The police have a list of the names and addresses of every one who either owns or drives a cab in the city of Peekskill, You have know idea how angry at this moment I am about the silence of the Police for a FULL WEEK on this matter. I will stop here before I write something I might regret.
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SITES TO LINK TO:
ON THE OTHER HAND W/ FORMER PEEKSKILL COUNCILMAN SCHMIDT: http://peekskillperspectives.blogspot.com/
PLAN PUTNAM: planputnam@googlegroups.com/
PEEKSKILL GUARDIAN: http://peekskillguardian.blogspot.com/
NORTH COUNTY NEWS: http://northcountynews.com/
THE JOURNAL NEWS: http://thejournalnews.com/
PEEKSKILL DEMOCRATS: http://www.peekskilldems.com/
PEEKSKILLREPUBLICANS:http://peekskillgop.com/
*********************************************************************************** CABLE SHOWS TO WATCH:
ON POINT ON PEEKSKILL: Every Tuesday at 8PM chanel 15 (Peekskill only)
Hosted by:DARREN RIGGER
DON PETERS AND YORKTOWN: Every Tuesday at 10PM chanel 22
Hosted by: DON PETERS *********************************************************************************** EDITOR'S NOTE:All articles re-printed in this blog from the North County News are with the permission of Bruce Apar Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.
BAZZO 04/21/07
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