AMENIA — It’s always fascinating when a new political party enters the fray, and this year, in the town of Amenia, that’s exactly what has occurred. As an independent political party putting its own slate of candidates forward in the Tuesday, June 22, New York Republican Primary Election, the local Amenia Strong party has formed to elect three candidates to the Amenia Town Board in 2021: Julie Doran as town supervisor and Jamie Vitiello and Brad Rebillard as town councilmen.
Because the three newcomers are also running as Republicans in the primary, they are guaranteed a spot in the November General Election, which is not the case for all of their opponents. Incumbent town Supervisor Victoria Perotti, who is seeking her fifth two-year term, is running on the Republican and the Conservative lines, so she will be guaranteed a spot on the November ballot. But incumbent Councilmembers James Morris and Michele Somogyi, who are both seeking a second four-year term, are only running on the Republican party line. That means if they lose to their Amenia Strong opponents next week, they’re out of the race.
Amenia Strong, a closer look
So just what is Amenia Strong all about, and who are the candidates this new party has put forward to lead the town of Amenia? The creation of the party happened swiftly, and with little publicity. Now residents want to know exactly who is behind the party and the people who may helm their Town Board for the next few years.
According to a joint statement released by the three candidates, “Once elected, we will be laser focused on reducing the town’s expenses. Our elected officials must share our values and stretch each and every tax dollar to ensure it is utilized properly. Our team is looking to end out-of-control spending; while supporting programs for our youth and seniors. We must prioritize the health and welfare of our residents, support our small businesses, fire departments, schools and local nonprofits.”
However, some residents have expressed concern that Amenia Strong seems to be getting its support mainly from the Silo Ridge Field Club, and that the political party is entangled in Silo Ridge’s challenge to the town’s community-wide reassessment in 2019, which included raising the luxury development’s assessment by $300 million, which the Town Board later agreed to reduce by $90 million.
The tangled web of Silo Ridge
Now, after the town reduced Silo Ridge’s assessment by nearly $1 million, Silo (a Discovery Land Companies luxurious housing community) continued to request the town reduce its assessment, as evidenced by an email sent from Assessor Christopher Boryk to the Town Board on April 13, 2020.
“Attached please find a proposal from Silo Ridge requesting major reductions in their assessments,” wrote Boryk. “As the letter from Discovery indicates they are struggling and may pull out of the project. The PDF presentation equates to roughly a 55% reduction in the single family lots. There are no sales to support this claim. I believe that the request for 55% reduction is excessive. I also believe that because of the pandemic, there is a real chance that Discovery will pull out.”
Those concerns were expressed after Silo had agreed to an arrangement with the town that lowered its assessment by $90 million. The PDF Boyrk referenced sent from Silo stated the following:
“Until such time as 38 of the above Lots are sold as evidenced by the date of the filed deed [the ‘First Threshold’], the Assessed Value for each of Lots set forth in the previous analysis should be discounted by 50%.”
A changing of the guard
Boyrk came to the Assessors Office after Assessor Ron Gazzoli passed away and was replaced by former town Supervisor Wayne Euvrard, who was elected to fill Gazzoli’s unexpired term from 2015 to 2017. It was Euvrard who Perotti charged had “greatly undervalued all the properties in Silo and overvalued everybody else’s.”
Perotti added that Euvrard never completed the courses he needed to be certified as an assessor, so when his term ended, the town didn’t have anyone to fill the position. That’s when it found Boryk, who was appointed assessor on March 18, 2018 for a one-year term; he was then reappointed for a six-term set to expire on Sept. 30, 2025.
Two lawsuits filed
According to Perotti and other fans of Boyrk, he is highly qualified with 28 years of experience and has been awarded the Excellence in Equity Award for the last 17 years. Supporters say he justly brought Silo’s assessment up to fair market value.
After he did so, Silo Ridge filed a lawsuit against the town of Amenia, in the matter of the Application of Silo Ridge Condominium I against the Board of Assessors and/or the Assessor of the Town of Amenia and the Board of Assessment Review, filed on June 7, 2020, Index Number 2020-51739. That’s lawsuit number one, filed by the Silo Ridge development.
Those on the Amenia Strong team, however, claim the lawsuits against the town are not connected to Silo Ridge.
Vitiello, who lives in Silo Ridge but said he doesn’t speak on its behalf, clarified the issue for his campaign.
“I don’t think for Amenia Strong the assessment of Silo Ridge is an issue, that’s not our issue, it is an issue for individual homeowners of Silo,” he said. “It is an issue for investors of Silo, but that isn’t something we’re running on… but to not see the town’s budget to continue to increase, to the point where it needs to continue to really over-assess to fill a budget [is wrong]. The reality of Silo Ridge is it’s hiding a really poorly run town. Without Silo Ridge this town would be defined as economically distressed.
“These assessments need to be done properly and thoughtfully or they’ll cause big problems down road,” he added, pointing to higher school taxes and possible loss of state and federal funding. “What’s really going to happen when you have a bad assessment, and I think you have a bad assessment and a bad assessor… it puts a tax burden on the area; what you really do is risk tremendous budgetary turmoil down the road.”
The Silo Ridge lawsuit is pending in the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Dutchess, along with a second lawsuit against the assessor, the Board of Assessment Review, the Town Clerk, the Town of Amenia and the Amenia Town Board, filed by Juan Torres, Julie Doran and Peter Doran on Oct. 19, 2020; the Index Number for that case is 2020-53511.
The petitioner is the same Julie Doran who is running for town supervisor; she is also the office manager and sometime project manager for Silo Ridge. Peter is her husband, from whom she is separated, although they continue to live in separate quarters at the same home. Torres is a principal of Stoneleaf Construction LLC, partner to Silo Ridge Ventures LLC.
The lawsuits are reportedly due in court at the end of June.
Doran flatly denied Silo is actually suing the town. As far as her lawsuit, she said it won’t interfere with her being town supervisor if she wins.
“I filed long before any aspirations to go into office,” she said. “And it’s not Silo Ridge suing, it’s three residents from Amenia who filed on behalf of all taxpaying residents. We filed two years ago before I decided to run, to challenge the entire tax roll due to inequitable assessments. We FOILed for information from Amenia, and asked what was going on with all inequitable assessments in town, but the town denied us. We had no choice but to subpena and go on a fact-finding mission to get them to open their books.”
Doran said she doesn’t see a conflict of interest in suing the town while serving it, and would recuse herself from any discussions about either the lawsuit or Silo Ridge. She would also step back from her duties at Silo, if necessary, although she said she still has to “pay her mortgage.”
Perotti said the lawsuits simply want “more favorable assessments,” and “show complete disrespect for the townspeople.”
So far, they have cost town taxpayers roughly $75,000 in legal fees.
For more on the Amenia Strong candidates, turn to Page A5. See the June 10 Millerton News or go to www.tricornernews.com for additional candidate profiles.
‘Square Quilting painting' by ransomeAlexander Wilburn
