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To the editor:
I must have struck a nerve with an UN-ELECTED Library Board Member who rents in Putnam Valley and is not subject to real estate taxes.
My flyer has been circulating around town and in the deli. It was marked up with LIES, NOT TRUE and that I WANT TO CLOSE THE LIBRARY scrolled across it.
Also scrolled across my flyer was the statement “Signing the petition is exercising your rights as an American! YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE."
First of all, I DO NOT want to close the library. I want the library to be supported by our ELECTED Town Board and not by an UN-ELECTED Library Board who has NOT been vetted by anyone, nor do we know their qualifications to manage our tax dollars and to run an organization that provides a service to the community.
In my opinion, the library has been mismanaging our tax dollars, donations and trust left to them. Having more than $400,000 in surplus, there is no reason why both the pedestrian and vehicle bridges are still closed even after a grant has been awarded.
They failed to submit a claim in a timely fashion from the Hurricane Sandy damage; they do not provide community services that even a small library like Kent does.
They also refuse to solicit volunteers from our high school students that need community service credits and senior citizens who are looking to keep busy and give back to the community.
My feeling is by signing the petition and letting this 414 referendum on November's ballot and by chance it gets voted in, we will be giving an UN-ELECTED, UNVETTED Library Board carte blanche with our tax dollars.
The increase in our tax dollars to support the library budget will be permanent, in good times and bad; whether needed or not the budget can only be increased and NEVER decreased, according to the rules of a 414.
I stand by my statement “DO NOT sign the 414 referendum petition!” We need an elected board.
Dan Vera
Putnam Valley’s Tax Payer Advocate
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