Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 5-27-21

Thank you, Millbrook first responders

This past Saturday, around 8:30 a.m., a blue-sky clear sunny day, flowers-blooming and birds-chirping, as I proceeded in to the intersection of Route 82 South across Route 343, the front end of my Rav4 was sheared off and the vehicle totaled by a driver who blew through a red light at that intersection.

I want to express my deep appreciation to Officer DelGiudice of the Millbrook PD, to the Millbrook Fire Department personnel and to Darius Robustelli of Northern Dutchess Paramedics, all of whom responded promptly to the scene and who exhibited calm and kind professionalism.

God Bless and Thank Goodness for our wonderful First Responders and to our Municipalities (and their taxpayers) who support them! 

Kenneth B. Liegner

Millerton

 

Vote Amenia Strong and your taxes will go up

A local real estate broker said to me the other day, “If your house (which I bought for $35,000 40 years ago) sold for $1 million tomorrow, the assessor would assess it for the new buyer at $1 million.

Why? Because real estate assessments are based on Fair Market Value, and Fair Market Value is the price a willing buyer pays a willing seller in an open market.

According to a New York Times March 5, 2015, Real Estate article, the houses at Silo Ridge will be “priced at an average of $5 million but are going up to more than $10 million.”

I spoke in favor of Silo Ridge then at the Planning Board because I knew the real estate assessments and taxes for the properties developed there would be good for Amenia’s tax base. Now, the residents of Silo Ridge object to their properties being valued at Fair Market Value — the price they paid for them.

What’s fair is fair. What you paid for your new home is what it’s worth: It’s its Fair Market Value. And that is what a fair and objective assessor should value it at. I think New York State Case Law will support this longstanding precedent.

If the candidates for “Amenia Strong,” all associated apparently with Silo Ridge, win the Republican Primary and then defeat the Democrat slate in the General Election, you can be sure they will disagree with a Fair Market Value assessment. 

If they have their way, their assessments (and real estates taxes) will go down, and your assessment and taxes will go up.

Daniel F. Brown

Amenia

 

Latest News

Frozen fun in Lakeville

Frozen fun in Lakeville

Hot-tub style approach with a sledge-hammer assist at the lake.

Alec Linden

While the chill of recent weeks has driven many Northwest Corner residents inside and their energy bills up, others have taken advantage of the extended cold by practicing some of our region’s most treasured — and increasingly rare — pastimes: ice sports.

I am one of those who goes out rather than in when the mercury drops: a one-time Peewee and Bantam league hockey player turned pond hockey enthusiast turned general ice lover. In the winter, my 12 year-old hockey skates never leave my trunk, on the chance I’ll pass some gleaming stretch of black ice on a roadside pond.

Keep ReadingShow less
reporter's notebook

Garet&Co returns to Norfolk

Garet&Co returns to Norfolk

Emma Brockett, Josalyn Cipkas and Tiffany Oltjenbruns in rehearsal for “From All Angles.”

Elias Olsen

Garet Wierdsma and her northern Connecticut-based dance company, Garet&Co, will return to Norfolk for their third annual appearance with Dance Workshops on the next three Sundays, followed by two performances of “From All Angles” in Battelle Chapel on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 23, at 4 p.m.

In “From All Angles,” audience members will witness Garet&Co translate three of the works presented at their fall show, “Can’t Keep Friends,” danced in the round, where viewers can witness each piece from a new angle.

Keep ReadingShow less
dance