Is tea time over for ‘tea party’ candidate Bob LaPietra?

For the past several years, LaPietra has made fighting village hall something of a personal vocation. In 2005 he ran an abrasive mayoral campaign aimed at dislodging incumbent Bill Gilmore. That year, he and two others made up a slate of three candidates for village office, running on the aptly named “Tea Party” ballot line. Though he didn’t win the race, he succeeded in forcing out incumbent Bill Gilmore and getting fellow “Tea Party” member Mark Galasso elected to the village board of trustees. Over the past several years, he has been locked in conflict with the village code enforcement officer for continuing to rent out space in a village building in violation of the zoning ordinance and local building codes.

LaPietra has been very successful at tapping into a general frustration with what some people perceive as high taxes and overregulation. He has combined this political tack with a personal flair and controversial style rarely seen in village politics.

In large part, this is the reason that many have leaped to his defense with regard to the recent volley of charges leveled against him. In an attempt to place his name on the ballot as a candidate for village trustee, LaPietra filed nominating petitions listing his address as 784 Main Street in the village of Cobleskill. After incumbent trustee Carol McGuire (who is running against LaPietra) attempted to challenge the validity of his petitions, questions arose as to whether or not LaPietra actually lives at this address. Following a three-week investigation by the sheriff’s department, LaPietra was arrested and recently indicted on 30 felony counts including perjury and filing a false instrument.

LaPietra immediately took the opportunity to frame himself as a martyr for his cause, calling himself Cobleskill’s “first political prisoner”. Despite having been arrested and indicted for potential ballot fraud, LaPietra is actually still going to appear on the ballot. The fact is, LaPietra could very well end up winning a seat on the board of trustees. In large part, this depends on whether LaPietra can keep up the lie. Many in the village, including some village officials, see LaPietra as an abrasive nuisance, whose greed and reckless disregard for the rules has actually placed his tenants’ lives in danger. Others however, really do see him as a troublemaker being targeted by the political establishment.

The Times-Journal even stoked these flames in a recent editorial which references LaPietra’s “lightning rod personality”, clearly implying that the charges against him are at least in part motivated by his attacks on village officials. While LaPietra’s supporters are free to believe any conspiracy theories they like, they must admit that LaPietra does have a history of behaving as if the law didn’t apply to him. For the past several years he has allowed tenants to live in the upstairs apartments at 784 Main Street in flagrant violation of local building codes and zoning regulations. No, this is not the crime of the century, but it does bespeak a certain arrogance with regards to local laws and procedures. It really isn’t much of a leap to imagine this disregard for the rules extending to the filing of nominating petitions. But of course LaPietra is innocent until proven guilty, and whether or not he actually does live at 784 Main Street will be for a jury to decide.

Before that happens, Cobleskill voters will likely have their say on LaPietra. This is the trial that concerns me now. For despite being on trial for committing numerous felonies and facing jail time if convicted, LaPietra is in a position to possibly be elected to the village board. Who knows how voters will perceive LaPietra’s current legal travails? In the past, voters have believed his rhetoric about cutting taxes and wasteful spending and helping businesses by curbing regulation. It is understandable to want to support a guy who can tell Carol McGuire to check his sheets in response to questions about his residence.

But make no mistake, Bob LaPietra only stands for one thing, and that is Bob LaPietra. Stubbornly renting out illegal apartments to clueless college students isn’t fighting the good fight, it’s reckless endangerment. LaPietra is not a patriot fighting “taxation without representation”, he is a slumlord motivated by greed and a belief that he is above the law. In the end, it matters little whether LaPietra is convicted, because wherever he lives, his behavior and business practices are a nuisance, and his politics merely an extension of that fact.

If elected, he and Mark Galasso will push hard for a dissolution of the village of Cobleskill and a subsequent extension of water and sewer services to any developer who wants them. A main street struggling to pick itself up will get a swift kick to the teeth. And slumlords will rest easier knowing annual apartment inspections are most definitely off the table. If convicted, LaPietra will have a lot to answer for. If elected, it will be all of Cobleskill who must answer for LaPietra.

B.A.R. Brawl

Monthly town board meetings in Richmondville are increasingly becoming like bar-room brawls, with bitter and angry residents confused and throwing punches at anyone dumb enough to stand in the way. The public’s animosity over the ongoing tax assessment controversy in Richmondville has recently seemed to shift from the largely absentee assessor Matt Richardson to the members of the Board of Assessment Review who, critics allege, grossly overstepped their boundaries by improperly lowering the property assessments of a select few. But exactly who is really responsible and what are they responsible for?

Part of the reason for the confusion is New York State’s system of local government. In New York there are numerous tax-levying entities (i.e. school districts, counties, etc.), many of which encompass multiple tax-assessing jurisdictions (i.e. towns, villages and cities). Since all of these tax-assessing entities assess their own property, pretty much all of these communities assess at a different level of market value, creating what appear to be vast discrepancies in assessed value throughout the state. Now, if taxes were levied only in the same community in which they were assessed, the assessment level would matter very little, as in the end the tax rate would be based on the level of services demanded and the budget adopted by the community’s elected officials. Higher assessments would mean a lower tax rate and lower assessments would translate into a higher tax levy.

Unfortunately, towns like Richmondville are not only taxed by the town government. Richmondville is also subject to Schoharie County and Cobleskill-Richmondville School District tax levies. Here’s where the situation gets a bit more complicated, and actually quite understandably provocative for Richmondville taxpayers. In fact, this is why there is so much confusion as to who is paying what.

Over the past several years, the town of Richmondville has seen assessed property values rise, in some cases slowly, in other cases, quite rapidly. Within the town this may have resulted in an uneven distribution of the tax burden with some residents being forced to pay what is obviously more than their fair share, and others less. However, others fear that the assessment problem has also resulted in a much larger shifting of the tax burden onto the town of Richmondville at the county and school district levels.

Critics claim that these rises in assessed value have translated into a significant increase in the percentage of the county budget and the CRCS school district that Richmondville is paying into. This increase could be as much as $500,000 a year coming from Richmondville taxpayers!
Now, if school boards and county governments applied their tax levies evenly across the board, this would result in a substantially unfair and uneven distribution of the tax burden. However, this is not the case. School boards and county governments use the ORPS-determined equalization rate to apportion property tax levies across the multiple assessing jurisdictions within their own boundaries. The purpose of this is to prevent unfairness between different jurisdictions that have different levels of assessment.

All things being unequal

The equalization rate is the ratio of total assessed value to total market value in a given municipality. Currently, Richmondville’s equalization rate according to ORPS is 100%. Meanwhile, the Town of Cobleskill, has an equalization rate of 73 percent. Summit’s equalization rate is only 53%! At this point no other town in Schoharie County comes close to having a 100% equalization rate. But pointing to a higher equalization rate than neighboring municipalities can be misleading.

Imagine both Summit and Richmondville (both part of the CRCS school district) were paying the same school tax rate. That would mean Richmondville was paying twice as much as their neighbors in Summit! This would be truly outrageous. However, the equalization rate is used to prevent just that scenario. The equalization rate is used by school districts and county governments to apportion property taxes across various municipal jurisdictions according to their respective level of assessment. This is supposed to prevent one town or village from carrying an excessive tax burden. Now if this isn’t working the way it’s supposed to, the appropriate parties to be held accountable would be your school board and county government. There’s probably very little your assessor or B.A.R. can do.

Abuse of power?

In an entirely different assessment controversy, one more particular to Richmondville itself, critics also contend that the Board of Assessment Review overstepped its bounds by drastically lowering the assessments of some of the town’s highest assessed properties. According to critics, the B.A.R. has acted in ways that go well beyond its authority and that have actually unfairly lowered some people’s assessments. Critics like John Primeau allege that the B.A.R. in many cases simply rolled assessments back to 2007 and applied a smaller 2% increase. He also claims that some of the highest assessed properties were lowered dramatically, thus shifting the tax burden within the town itself.

The question here is whether the Board of Assessment Review, which is supposed to apply strict and consistent standards for reviewing and potentially altering property tax assessments, has simply applied a general formula as the basis for making changes to assessments. If so, the B.A.R. would have grossly and illegally exceeded its authority. It is an administrative body, which in theory means it is only applying the law, in this case, the property assessments. If there has been an error and the property owner can prove an excessive or unequal assessment, the board can lower that person’s assessment accordingly. Generally applied increases or decreases are legislative actions and therefore completely inappropriate, if in fact that’s what was done.

Primeau also alleges that the B.A.R. dramatically lowered assessments on a handful of highly-assessed properties. He references several cases in which assessed values were decreased anywhere from $75,000 to over $100,000. Richmondville taxpayers have a right to know and a duty to find out what standards were used to decrease these assessments by such amounts. There is also the possibility of conflicts of interest, as Horst Fierek’s property (Fierek is a member of the B.A.R.) received one of the largest decreases in assessed value. Certainly I’m not accusing anyone of improper actions, but the potential for conflict is strong enough to justify an in-depth look, possibly a state audit, at who is receiving lowered assessments and on what basis.

Others allege that the B.A.R. lowered the assessment of Richmondville Power and Light, Richmondville’s municipally-owned power company, by nearly a million dollars over the past several years. John Primeau claims that a B.A.R. member, when questioned about the RPL decrease, told him it was done to keep their rates low. Aside from the fact that RPL does not serve each taxpayer in the town of Richmondville, each of whom would be forced to shoulder the extra tax burden, this is obviously not what the B.A.R. is supposed to do.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix to these problems. If indeed, Richmondville has a runaway B.A.R. that is not following the rules for altering assessments, I believe it falls to the state to audit the B.A.R.’s actions. Over the long term, it may be in the town’s interest to switch to a county-based property assessment system. But on that issue I would advise caution (see next post) and recommend county-based assessment only as a last resort.

Additionally, the air needs to be cleared as to Richmondville’s equalization rate compared to other towns. Aligning Richmondville’s equalization rate with that of Cobleskill or any other town in the county, would not have any real effect on the apportionment of school or county taxes or Richmondville’s tax burden. But if you feel Richmondville is being unfairly stuck with a higher percentage of the school or county property tax, feel free to take it up with the school board or the county.

The appropriate way to address any alleged malfeasance is to call for more oversight and an engaged (and informed) citizenry demanding rational explanations for the activities of B.A.R. members.

However, let’s not forget the bottom line. School and county taxes are going up due to rising fuel costs, salary increases and rising insurance costs. Local property assessments have little to do with this. However, when people see that their tax bills are rising in concert with their property assessments, it’s natural to want to point the finger of blame toward the assessor. Combine this with a tax assessor who has seemingly been beyond reach, and you begin to see why people want to blame everything on the assessments.

This doesn’t mean that the Richmondville Board of Assessment Review is beyond criticism. If RPL and other highly-assessed properties received undue or improper decreases in their assessments, it transfers the burden not just onto other Richmondville taxpayers but taxpayers throughout the county and the Cobleskill-Richmondville School District as well. If there is a remedy here, it is to be found through either New York State audits of local assessments and assessment reviews or closer supervision over the activities of B.A.R. members by the Town Board or state auditors.

Schoharie County Board of Supervisors pushing expensive consolidation scheme

With everybody’s favorite new buzzwords being “consolidation” and “sharing services”, it seems like all the politicians want in on the game, apparently regardless of whether the consolidation of the services in question actually results in greater efficiency and thus less cost to the taxpayers. After all, if you consolidate services only to end up performing the same level of service for the same cost or a higher cost to taxpayers, that would just be...dumb, right?

For some inexplicable reason Schoharie County supervisors are considering switching to a county-wide property assessment system, which would relieve towns of the responsibility. The county Board of Supervisors just recently received a consultant’s report on consolidating property tax assessments. Despite the fact that the report’s three alternatives to the current town-based system would be more expensive, county supervisors seem largely in favor of centralizing the property tax assessment system.

The current system costs county taxpayers around $820,000 a year. Meanwhile, switching to any of the three proposed variations of the centralized assessment system would cost more than a million dollars. Now, if we’re going to switch to a more expensive system, there has to be some compelling reason. Like say, if having the county do assessments, we might actually save money in the long run by having more equitable assessments.

However, what reason is their for believing that a group of assessors at the county level is going to somehow better assess properties than the current town assessors? Could this be wishful thinking? In fact, switching to a county-wide assessment system could increase inequity. Larger towns who pay more taxes would end up subsidizing the smaller towns that pay less taxes. It would be a boon to smaller towns who would be relieved of a large expense, and a drag on larger towns who are carrying more of the county’s tax burden on account of their larger population.

I’m far from an expert on consolidating services, but I am pretty sure that the objective is to increase efficiency and save money. This proposal to consolidate property assessment at the county level would do just the opposite; it would drive up the cost of assessing property in Schoharie County.

It’s funny, because it’s not assessments that cause taxes to rise. In fact, it is just this kind of ineptitude and poor judgment that results in wasteful spending and unnecessary bureaucracy that actually results in higher taxes. For the board of supervisors, the additional costs would be a small price to pay for getting rid of the headache that property assessments have caused in certain towns. Pawning the whole assessment mess off on the county is probably the best hope people like John Barlow have of resolving the recurrent controversy.

However, in the end, obsessing over either property assessments or consolidating services is a distraction. If you want to increase efficiency and lower taxes (or free up money to be spent on more important things) get involved with your local school, town and county budgeting processes and fight the wasteful spending that is going on. Or, better yet, encourage responsible growth that builds the tax base but protects the quality of life.

Ready or not, development is coming to Richmondville

It is with some amusement that I read Cobleskill village trustee Mark Galasso’s letter to the Times-Journal defending his support for the proposed Maranatha fitness center in Richmondville. The issue that concerned Galasso was whether or not the village of Cobleskill should pursue a Restore NY grant for the Newberry Square building or whether it should back out and endorse the fitness center instead. Galasso criticizes the “us-versus-them” attitude in the village and argues th1at we all need to come together for what’s best for the region.

Believe it or not, I think Galasso makes a pretty good case for why Cobleskill village officials should support the Maranatha project. However, as a Richmondville resident who lives in the path of this recent surge of proposed development along Route 7, I’m not so sure Schoharie County ought to be using its limited Restore NY monies to encourage more sprawl.

It seems like with the Empire Zone in place, there is a rush to build up the area with very little concern for the consequences or the people in the way.

Here are some of the projects that have recently been proposed for the Route 7 corridor between Warnerville and the village of Richmondville

-$4.2 million Maranatha fitness complex next to the former Warnerville Roller Rink
-Expansion of Lancaster Development site on Podpadic Road
-Relocation of Mill Services wood finishing factory on former Sabata farm or on Podpadic Road
-New town/village highway garage on Podpadic Road
-Proposed truck stop near either Warnerville or Richmondville exit off I-88
-Car wash in Warnerville near high school (currently under construction)

It appears that the usual suspects, i.e. Makeley, Loder and Galasso have big plans for Podpadic Road. I know that the Town of Richmondville needs a new garage and that the area is starved for jobs, but is anyone asking what all this new development will mean for the existing land uses in the immediate area? This part of the town of Richmondville, which bleeds into the hamlet of Warnerville, is home to a small residential neighborhood, a few small businesses, a few remaining farms and of course the Cobleskill-Richmondville high school.

As all of this new industrial development brings increased truck traffic, how will that affect residents and high school students who walk to school? What effect will this truck traffic have on air quality? For that matter, what are the hazards associated with the processes used by Mill Services, Inc.? What will happen to the last few farms in this area? Are they just going to get squeezed out until Makeley, Loder and Galasso buy up everything and build more sprawl and industry?

Over the past year, many residents have loudly protested the building of a few wind turbines. But what’s shaping up in Richmondville’s east end and Warnerville promises to be a much more drastic change to the landscape. The scope of these changes requires a new comprehensive plan for the town conducted with maximum citizen participation.

This is necessary to ensure that Empire Zone-related development occurs in an orderly and sustainable fashion. This growth can occur in a manner that complements the area, or it can be left up to the greedy few to become a sprawling mess with unknown environmental consequences.

What this boils down to is a handful of powerful people making very big decisions about the future of this community without any consultation or participation from members of the community at large. The people deserve, and ought to demand, better.

Downtown deserves grant

Stella McKenna has been planning to build a new fitness and rehabilitation center in the town of Richmondville on Route 7. This facility would include a sports complex, a physical therapy facility, a strip of retail businesses and a restaurant featuring adaptive use of two historic barns. The complex would be a virtual one-stop shop for all your physical therapy and health & fitness needs.

But in order to make it happen she needs a little help. So far, she has been applying for a number of grants to get that help. This year, she is again applying to New York State’s Empire Development Corporation for a Restore NY grant.

McKenna however, has some competition for Restore NY grant funding. The village of Cobleskill is also planning on submitting a proposal for Restore NY money to rehabilitate the Newberry Square building in downtown Cobleskill. Here we have a project that comes with numerous obvious benefits to downtown Cobleskill. It is a large building with two large store-fronts on Main Streets (they’re the one’s currently covered in plywood). There is also additional commercial and potential residential space throughout the large arcade-style building. Newberry’s takes up a large part of Main Street, and with a new façade could make a real impact on downtown as a whole.

But here’s where things get a bit complicated. McKenna has asked the village of Cobleskill to withdraw their grant proposal for Newberry Square so that the state will be more likely to grant her the Restore NY monies. Making things even more complicated is the fact that McKenna’s project falls within Schoharie County’s empire zone, making it somewhat more likely to receive Restore NY funding. Yet at the same time, the Newberry Square building is an anchor building in a potentially resurgent downtown area, which makes it highly worthy of state grant money, perhaps more so than McKenna’s fitness complex. So we have two projects that are both deserving of state monies, but chances are, we’re only going to get one grant, if we get anything at all.

Setting aside McKenna's request for the village's exclusive support, the Cobleskill village board voted 3 to 2 to continue to pursue funding for the Newberry Square building. While McKenna's fitness center may be deserving of public monies, the Cobleskill village board made the right decision. Here’s why. The Restore NY program was created to bring back downtown areas. Rehabilitating an old building in a historic downtown is a much better fit for the Restore NY grant, both in spirit and in terms of the village's obligation to its own downtown business district. This doesn’t mean that communities can’t work together for the common good. In fact, rehabilitating Newberry Square does more for the common good of the region than McKenna’s project. But for the village board to abandon a grant proposal for a critical project in a struggling downtown would be a travesty.

We also have to ask if the proposed location for the fitness center is best for the region. Why use taxpayer money to build more sprawl? This is an especially critical question when there is a surplus of empty space in downtown Cobleskill that McKenna could expand into. In fact, wouldn’t McKenna’s relocation leave an existing building empty? Fact is, if McKenna tried, she could certainly find a suitable location in downtown Cobleskill. And if she did, I doubt she’d have much trouble getting the Cobleskill village board to endorse a grant proposal.

In the end, the Newberry Square grant doesn’t take away from McKenna’s chances of receiving a grant, except in the sense that the Newberry Square project seems to be more deserving. If in fact that is the case, Cobleskill village has every right and responsibility to pursue grant funding and no business whatsoever supporting another project in another town.