Letters to the editor — Thursday, June 11

Misleading headline in The News confuses readers

The Our Towns article (MN date 5/28/26) about the Webutuck school budget vote was lacking in three respects: reporting, editing and headline writing.

The reporter said the vote was approved, but he failed to include the vote count. How is the voter to know if it was a squeaker or a ground swell of approval? The voter is entitled to know.

The editor failed to catch this oversight. That’s what they’re there for!

The false headline misled the reader: that it was the “first tax increase in five years.” Or, in the reporter’s words in the lede, “the first property tax increase in over five years.” That is patently false and reflects a complete misunderstanding of property taxation.

The school district’s story line was presumably that it was the first property tax LEVY increase in five years. The levy rate is the percentage increase (or decrease) in the school budget, before NYS funds are added. If true (and I don’t track school district property tax levy percentages, so let’s presume it’s true), that is commendable and deserving of driving the narrative that the school district is spinning.

But, the reader should expect a truthful, more sophisticated and balanced presentation of the news. With no modifications to my property (except depreciation), my school district taxes did not increase in 2022, but they did increase in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and they will most assuredly increase again in 2026.

The reason my school district taxes have or will increase in four of the last five years is that property assessments throughout the town of Amenia – with the notable exception of SILO RIDGE – have increased substantially over the last five years. My assessment has increased by 11% in 2022, 11% in 2023, 4% in 2024, 10% in 2025 and 4.5% in 2026. Total increase 46.5% in 5 years!

I understand and can accept the need for some equalization and rebalancing of the town’s total assessment, but…1) the school district shouldn’t be allowed to get away with spinning their message without some accountability and 2) the town’s assessor and the town board need to feel a little pushback from Amenia homeowners to the pressure they feel from the Silo Ridge homeowner litigants over their property tax assessments.

I’m sure I am not alone on both these points of grievance.

Dan Brown
Amenia

Experience matters and Barrett has it

As we officially start the primary election season in June, I write to urge voters in New York’s Assembly District 106 to vote for our good friend and Assembly member, Didi Barrett, who faces a primary challenge before the general election this Fall.Early voting begins on June 13 through June 21, 2026.Election Day is June 23, 2026.

Didi continues to work hard to deliver for her Hudson Valley community every day. As a skillful legislator and relationship builder, she is responsible for a number of “firsts” in legislative accomplishments.Her bill to restore benefits for veterans discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and for PTSD became the first in the country and a role model for other state legislatures. As Chair of the Assembly’s Energy Committee, she has fought to lower utility costs and make energy bills more transparent.She recently passed legislation to create the first statewide moratorium on data centers in the country.Didi also wrote and advocated for the passage of legislation that creates a pilot project for regenerative agriculture that allows farmers to sequester carbon in the soil, reducing greenhouse gases while promoting resiliency and productivity.This is a mere sampling of Didi’s many notable accomplishments over the years.

New Yorkers need experienced leaders now more than ever.Please remember to VOTE this month for a proven leader in this race, Didi Barrett.

Adelaide Camillo
Dutchess County

Barrett’s performance needs scrutiny

I’ve been receiving a lot of postcards and emails from Didi Barrett heading into the primary election on June 23rd.Each of them proudly assert Didi’s credentials on climate.

Here’s a line from a recent email: “Didi is a lifelong environmentalist and was one of the few legislators who just voted against rolling back our landmark climate law. She’s been leading the charge to lower utility costs — and the fossil fuel companies have been fighting her tooth and nail! “. I’m supposed to read this and think That’s great, I want to see action on climate and I hate that Gov. Hochul just trashed that law Didi’s talking about, I guess I’ll vote for her!

But Didi’s email uses carefully crafted language to mislead.As chair of the powerful Assembly Energy Committee, Didi has tremendous influence over State energy policy. The amendments gutting our climate law could not have passed without the cooperation of the Committee she chairs. In fact, one of the key elements of that gutting was introduced by Didi in 2023 as Assembly Bill A6039. A gift to the oil and gas industry that discounts the disastrous effects of methane on climate. Didi knows that she’s vulnerable on these issues and as is often the case she was able to vote no after Hochul rounded up sufficient votes to ensure the amendment would pass.

Didi’s claim about her vicious battle with fossil fuel interests doesn’t stand up either. Why would the utilities, companies that stand to make millions from Didi’s climate rollback work, pour tens of thousands into her campaigns if they didn’t see her as an ally?

Didi Barrett has held office for 14 years. Voters don’t need to rely on campaign mailers to judge her performance; they can examine her record for themselves. That’s exactly what I hope they’ll do before heading to the polls.

Bill Kish
North East

Didi Barrett has delivered for district

I write to remind Democratic Party voters of how hard Didi Barrett has worked for us and how much she has accomplished since she entered the Assembly in 2012.I think it is also important to discuss the disingenuous attacks on her by her primary opponent, Sam Hodge.I have received at least 3 or 4 mailers from Hodge saying that Didi refuses to support legislation to tax the rich.Since a refusal to impose higher taxes on wealthy New York State residents seemed at odds with the many progressive positions that Didi has taken and fought for during her 14 years in the Assembly, I did a little research and found out that Didi has NOT refused to “tax the rich.”

The fact is that the “tax the rich” bill, A8953, has not come up for a vote yet and is still being discussed in and not yet finalized by the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, of which Didi is not a member.

Space limitations prevent me from listing anything near all of the legislation that Didi has worked on, sponsored, or passed.Some of these are: bills to protect reproductive freedom, raise the minimum wage, protect the Hudson River from federal efforts to create anchorages for petroleum-carrying barges, help farmers increase soil resiliency and productivity for their farms, support family leave, provide strong rent regulation, restore benefits to veterans denied honorable discharges due to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and support veterans with PTSD.Didi has also backed legislation to criminalize “ghost” guns and to ban “disguised” guns and “bump stocks.”

Didi currently is a co-sponsor of the New York for All Act, to better protect New Yorkers from ICE’s cruel tactics.And just this past week, the Assembly passed a bill Didi sponsored to impose a one-year moratorium on data centers and create a separate utility rate class for large energy users.

Didi’s efforts to bring money into our District – and elsewhere in the State - have also been extensive and impressive.She has delivered millions of dollars to strengthen schools, expand public libraries and day care centers, repair roads, support first responders, house community college students, block tuition increases at SUNY colleges and help create a tuition-free program for low and middle class SUNY and community college students, and support cultural spaces like the Stissing Center.

Didi’s work for us has been bold and progressive – qualities that Mr. Hodge claims for himself.However, making false statements about one’s opponent – let alone a representative who has been as energetic, hard-working, and effective as Didi – may be, in Mr. Hodge’s word, “bold,” but not in a good way.And it is definitely not progressive.The absence of honesty and integrity in government officials has a devastating effect on us.Mr. Hodge’s repeated dishonest attacks on Didi are shameful and, in my opinion, disqualify him for the job as our Assembly member.

Amy Rothstein
Pine Plains