Letters

Walter Deane’s Letter to the Editor is mystifying, by saying that the March 6 editorial [“Call It What It Is”] is about dividing the Southampton wealthy from the rest of us [“We Are All One,” Letters, March 13].

The editorial merely noted that Southampton Village Mayor Bill Manger was untruthful is his statements made in the February 25 Village Board meeting. It also commented on the mayor’s demeaning behavior toward Village Trustee Ed Simioni: “At last week’s Board of Trustees meeting, Manger told Simioni to ‘go back to business school’ — a sincerely unfortunate lapse of decorum, made all the more lamentable by the fact that it is Manger, in fact, who needs to brush up on the difference between ‘exemption’ and ‘deferment’ ...”

If you want to see how Southampton Village treats the wealthy differently than the rest of us, you should watch the March 13 Zoom presentation of residents discussing their grievance filings with the Village Board. You will be able to observe another of Manger’s well-documented disrespectful rants.

You will also see that residents provided a schedule of nine high-valued properties that have assessed values that are 0.003 of their market values. Grievance filers were asking that their assessed values also be calculated at 0.003 of their properties’ value. That would be fair. But fairness was rejected by the board.

As a grievance filer, I reminded the board that the village is exposed to a class-action lawsuit, because the present system of determining assessed values discriminates against the residents of Hillcrest and other lower-valued properties. I also admonished them that failure to give the 0.003 assessed value to lower-valued properties will demonstrate that not only does the system discriminate, but they, as individuals and as a board, are discriminating in their administration of the system.

I asked the board to deliberate and decide in an open meeting, because they have a conflict of interest and because information concerning real estate is already in the public domain. They refused, because they want the darkness so that they can ignore facts and make vindictive decisions.

In the Zoom presentation, Trustee Roy Stevenson put his ignorance on full display. He said properties are reassessed based on a sale. This is not true. So you have a trustee who is judge and jury in this process — and he is clueless.

So, Mr. Dean, The Press’s editorial did not pit the wealthy against the rest of us — the wealthy have pitted themselves against us by purchasing the mayor and his three stooges and having them ignore fairness, discriminate against the Hillcrest residents, and force lower-valued property owners to pay a disproportionately high portion of the village tax burden.

It is sad that the Southampton Village wealthy rationalize their right to steal from other village residents.

David Rung

Southampton Village