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Who are Chris Cunningham and his Democratic controlled Sullivan County Legislature kidding with their vote last week reversing the Neversink equalization tax hike they implemented last year?
This is nothing more than a transparent move to stop the inroads Republican candidate Patrick Casey has been making in Neversink to replace Elvin Wood on the legislature. Wood filled the seat when Republican Greg Goldstein stepped down to become the Neversink Supervisor.
Last year the Sullivan County Legislature voted to adopt the New York State’s Large Parcel Method of Taxation, this meant that taxpayers in the Neversink area had to pay around $180 more in taxes for each parcel valued at $80,000.
But this year the legislature decided to reverse their actions, which in essence will reduce taxes in Neversink and in all probability raise all other property taxpayers by a small amount.
Legislator Ron Hiatt was quoted by saying that he reversed his decision because he listened to Neversink taxpayers. Why doesn’t he do the same when it comes to voting on other measures which put a strain on all Sullivan County taxpayers?
Last year Cunningham attacked the Republican members of the legislature for not supporting his move to equalize Neversink tax rolls.
Legislator Leni Binder, whose district includes parts of Neversink, has opposed the tax increase measure because of a larger issue.
Binder feels that New York City, the largest county taxpayer, is looking to change their watershed assessments. Binder believes last years move opened up a can of worms, and county taxpayers could pay more.
The biggest outrage in all this is the praise members of the legislature are giving Wood for contacting Assemblyman Paul Tonko on amending the large parcel bill, and how watersheds such as the Neversink are taxed.
What does this really mean? You as an average citizen can do the same. There was no special legislation approved in Albany to remove this item from the large parcel bill. All that is being done here is lobbying for his electoral base. Is that not what an elected official is supposed to do?
Look, Elvin Wood is a decent guy, and I am sure he is concerned about delivering for the people he represents, but don’t make us believe it is something other than it really is.
The simple truth is that this year legislature decided to opt out of the state plan it approved last year. Nothing else has changed.
What has changed and is most disturbing is the double talk we get from Chris Cunningham.
Last year, being upset with all the flack he was receiving from residents in Neversink for the tax hike, Cunningham invited me to sit down with him to discuss the issue. He asked Paul Burckard, director of the Sullivan County Real Property Tax Service Agency to join us.
He immediately declared that the Neversink tax hike “was all about equalization and fairness for all the tax payers in Sullivan County.”
Both men had argued there was misinformation concerning the tax increase. They said it was inevitable because of state law. But in reality, the state law has still not changed, even though they have now reversed their position. They also insisted it was unfair for Sullivan County taxpayers to subsidize Neversink property owners. Again, why has their position changed?
When I asked Cunningham if he were the representative from Neversink what would he do? He said he would have had to vote for the increase. He argued that sometimes an elected official has to vote in favor of an issue whether it is popular or not. He said, “You have to do what is right, and the increase in Neversink was just.”
The real difference is that then Republican Greg Goldstein was on the legislature representing Neversink and not Democrat Elvin Wood.
Cunningham at the time lambasted all the Republican legislators for not voting for the hike. He said “deep down” they knew that voting for the Neversink tax hike would have been the right thing to do. Instead he said it was turned into a political vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans against.
Cunningham and Burkard even pointed out to me that all of our county’s town tax assessors supported the Neversink tax hike.
It’s all about politics Mr. Cunningham and you know it - you just proved it to all of Sullivan County.
Come clean with the voters Mr. Cunningham and tell us why you and your politically controlled legislature really made the decision you did on Neversink Watershed tax issue. Nothing has changed in Albany, so why the change in Sullivan County?
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