Email to the Editor

Meet The Tax Assessor

This is to advise you that there will be a special meeting this Thursday, August 25th, at the Dresden Town Hall (102 Clemons Center Rd., Clemons, NY) at 4:00 p. m. to give all property owners the opportunity to meet our local Tax Assessor, June Maniacek.

At our Aug. 13 Federation of Huletts Association meeting, a presentation was given by two founding members of the Lake Communities of Putnam Association, Gene Frost and Bert Windle, who have been strong advocates for fair and equitable tax reform within Washington County, and particularly for the towns of Dresden and Putnam. The primary focus of their mission has been to encourage, through a formal appeal process, the state of New York’s oversight authority, the Office of Real Property Tax Services, to correct the unfair application of their imposed Equalization Rate (ER). It is this rate that the town assessors use to calculate our property taxes each year. Gene and Bert’s extensive studies indicate that the ER being applied within our two towns should be restored to a more equitable tax basis.

In the discussions that followed that presentation, many of our residents expressed an interest to have the opportunity to review this important subject with our town’s tax assessor. Art Borin, our local town councilman from the Landing, has arranged to have Ms. Maniacek meet with us on Thursday for a continued dialogue on this important topic and to answer any additional question we may have. If you plan to attend, I would suggest that you review your latest property tax bills and perhaps even bring them to the meeting. Hope to see you on Thursday afternoon.

Dave Richards
FHA President