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Tax cap proponents rally at Town Hall for 4% limit
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| | | Councilman Keith Romaine advocates for his tax cap proposal, flanked (left) by council members Tim Mazzei and Jane Bonner and (right) by supervisor candidate Marty Haley. Photo by Jennifer Choi (click for larger version) | |
September 09, 2009 | 02:27 PM
Members of Long Islanders for Educational Reform, a group organized in 2005 to address the problem of burdensome taxation, gathered outside Brookhaven Town Hall Sept. 3 to support Councilman Keith Romaine's (R-Center Moriches) proposal to implement a 4 percent property tax cap in Brookhaven.
At the Aug. 4 Town Board meeting, Romaine sponsored a resolution to place a referendum on the ballot in November for the public to vote on a tax cap proposal. Since a referendum on the ballot must be the subject of a public hearing and a state law-prescribed time frame, the required hearing had to be scheduled at the Aug. 4 meeting to fulfill the Election Day deadline.
A roll-call vote on setting a public hearing on Aug. 20 failed 4-3, with council members Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) and Tim Mazzei (R-Blue Point) voting with Romaine. Council members Connie Kepert (D-Middle Island), Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld (D-East Setauket) and Kathy Walsh (R-Centereach) voted with Supervisor Mark Lesko, who had a heated exchange with Romaine at the board meeting.
At the Sept. 3 tax protest Romaine was joined by supporters of the tax cap proposal including Bonner; Fred Gorman of Nesconset, a LIFER founder and executive committee member; and Martin Haley, the GOP candidate running against Lesko for Brookhaven supervisor.
"I'm disappointed that the public hearing wasn't set," Bonner said. "I believe in giving people a chance to vote." Bonner noted that residents are "frustrated" with the federal and state governments and are "clamoring for a change" on the local level. "Residents are being taxed to death," the councilwoman said, adding that it would be beneficial for the public to have a "direct say" on the tax cap issue.
"The Democrats on the town board won't even allow the public to vote on the issue in November," Romaine said. "In tough times, my family has to cut back. Why can't the town? This tax cap is absolutely necessary."
Haley, the town's building commissioner, said "people throughout the United States have had it" with high taxes. "The average Jane and Joe out there wants us to stop spending," he said. "We're going to start a town revolution here and now."
Andrea Vecchio, a member of East Islip Tax Pac which aims to shed light on government and school district spending, said, "We really need a [tax] cap." Pointing to the number 74 on her baseball cap, Vecchio said it represents the 74 percent of people in the state who indicated in a Siena poll conducted about a year ago that they would support a school tax cap. "We're taxed enough already," she said. "We need a tax cap to be able to stay in our own homes and be happy in our homes."
Gorman, who spoke passionately at the protest, agreed with Vecchio and noted that government officials must "cap spending" and "cap all taxes."
In response to the protest, the Brookhaven Democratic Committee issued a release in which Supervisor Lesko stated, "I want to freeze taxes; the supporters of this gimmick want to raise taxes by 4 percent. I embrace fiscally conservative principles to maintain our sterling bond rating, saving taxpayers millions and holding the line on taxes. This ill-conceived gimmick would cost taxpayers millions, duplicating the kind of fiscal mess that bankrupted California."
Deputy Supervisor and Councilwoman Kathy Walsh, whose swing vote decided the fate of Romaine's proposal, said town officials should "do everything we can to make sure spending is not out of control" rather than "self-impose a [tax] cap."
"We, as a governing body, really have the responsibility to monitor all revenue and the money we're spending," Walsh said. "I really don't think [a tax cap] is the answer. We should be monitoring all the time."
As for her decision to vote against her Republican colleagues, the councilwoman said, "I voted on the issue at the table and not necessarily on a political line." She added that it "wouldn't be fair to just go for it" to support her party line and said, "We have to make sure our departments stay within our budget and tighten our belt by monitoring our services. We have to make sure we're not spending anything more than necessary."
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