The Village Board has proudly announced that they have kept the tax increase for next year to less than 1%. Unify Piermont would have preferred to see the tax decrease we recommended, but can take pride in the fact that at least some of our recommendations are being implemented. We are convinced that, without our pressure, Piermont Taxpayers would not have seen even this minor victory.
The laws in New York require municipalities to have a balanced budget. The threat of taxpayer revolts and the desire of elected officials to keep their jobs both act as a brake on unbridled spending by elected officials. But there is more than one way to skin a cat as our Village Board has demonstrated.
The Village Board in Piermont has found two additional ways to increase spending more than taxes. Both involve “borrowing” against the future.
As the first chart above shows, the Village has been on a borrowing spree. The last bond was for $2 million and is repayable over 15 years. The Village Board has built in automatic tax increases through 2023 no matter what happens to the economy.
The second chart shows how much of our future taxes are committed to debt repayment if no more debt is issued.
How likely is this? It is hard to believe the Village Board has signed up for debt rehab. They passed a resolution at their last meeting authorizing a further $360,000 in Bond Anticipation Notes. When residents objected, the Mayor observed that it was “cheap money”. One resident astutely noted “cheap money” was what has gotten us into the current economic crisis. The Board assured the residents that the money will not be borrowed unless absolutely necessary. Time will tell.
The second method of “borrowing” against the future is more devious, but related. It involves overtaxing a group of residents knowing full well that the Village will lose the resulting lawsuits and have to pay the money back. The current debt level of $4.3 million includes funding for four or five of these “paybacks”. More lawsuits are still outstanding, waiting to be resolved.
This message was prepared by Unify Piermont which is dedicated to returning responsible, representative government to Piermont.
Unify Piermont is a group made up of village residents from all areas of the village, and from all political parties. We need to create a local village government that will address the problems created by the current and previous administrations.
We need your help, your input and your involvement. If you share our concerns about Village taxes and Village debt; than e-mail us at unifypiermont@live.com with your name and address or leave a message at 845-613-7675. We will notify you when a new posting goes up on our website at http://www.unifypiermont.blogspot.com/.
Assuming Piermont loses its debt dependency habit, we taxpayers will still be paying over a half million dollars in debt costs for the next few years.
How likely is this? It is hard to believe the Village Board has signed up for debt rehab. They passed a resolution at their last meeting authorizing a further $360,000 in Bond Anticipation Notes. When residents objected, the Mayor observed that it was “cheap money”. One resident astutely noted “cheap money” was what has gotten us into the current economic crisis. The Board assured the residents that the money will not be borrowed unless absolutely necessary. Time will tell.
The second method of “borrowing” against the future is more devious, but related. It involves overtaxing a group of residents knowing full well that the Village will lose the resulting lawsuits and have to pay the money back. The current debt level of $4.3 million includes funding for four or five of these “paybacks”. More lawsuits are still outstanding, waiting to be resolved.
This message was prepared by Unify Piermont which is dedicated to returning responsible, representative government to Piermont.
Unify Piermont is a group made up of village residents from all areas of the village, and from all political parties. We need to create a local village government that will address the problems created by the current and previous administrations.
We need your help, your input and your involvement. If you share our concerns about Village taxes and Village debt; than e-mail us at unifypiermont@live.com with your name and address or leave a message at 845-613-7675. We will notify you when a new posting goes up on our website at http://www.unifypiermont.blogspot.com/.
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