We are amid a runaway train wreck and our elected officials are the conductors. New York state is the most taxed state in the nation. When Gov. Andrew Cuomo passed a law capping the tax levy increases at 2 percent, the taxpayers finally thought they were going to get some relief from the ever-rising school and town budgets that are killing us.
This was the most useless law Cuomo ever proposed.
I just happened to see a notice for a public hearing to override the 2 percent tax cap in the paper on a holiday weekend when everyone was on vacation and not paying attention. This prompted me to attend the public hearing at the meeting for the town of Perth on Sept. 6. I was the only person at this meeting to voice my concern that hard-working taxpayers are not getting these kinds of increases in their salaries and cannot afford to go over the 2 percent cap. I soon realized the Town Board already had its mind made up before I even walked in the room. What good is a state law when it can be easily overridden by the town boards with no say from the taxpayers?
The bill to override the 2 percent state cap was introduced by Councilman Walter Kowalczyk, seconded by Gay Lewandowski and all in favor, including Councilmen Peter Betz and Timothy Korona, and Supervisor Gregory Fagan.
I asked the Town Board what kind of increase it was looking at, and Supervisor Fagan said the budget was still in the works. I take this as, “Brace yourselves, town of Perth, for what is inevitably coming.”
It’s time for our hard-working taxpayers in this town to get involved and attend the Town Board meetings the first Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. at Perth Town Hall. After all, it’s your money.
ROSE M. DUMBLEWSKI
Perth
