Letters

As Bill Manger spends time justifying a future tax cut specifically for high-value properties [“Southampton Village Board Adopts Historic Home Rehabilitation Tax Exemption, 4-1,” 27east.com, February 26], he continues to ignore one of the most pressing issues facing Southampton Village: the state of our downtown business district.

We are now experiencing near-record levels of commercial vacancies, with most business owners — the few that remain — calling this past winter season the worst on record. Many have compared it to the years following the Great Recession.

Yet, rather than addressing this crisis, Manger recently spent more than $6,500 of taxpayer money sending out a mailer titled “Our Vibrant Village.” If Manger truly believes the village is “vibrant,” it shows how disconnected he is from everyday residents.

Instead of supporting local businesses, Manger has chosen to increase the application fee on outdoor dining by 100 percent. In 2020 to 2021, I worked to expand outdoor dining, which helped restaurant owners and entrepreneurs and contributed to the success of our business district following the pandemic. Raising fees now, especially as year-round restaurants continue to close, is a step in the wrong direction.

Worse, Manger is actively penalizing businesses. Seasonal businesses that temporarily close for the winter are being wrongfully classified as “vacant” and fined or warned under a sign code that I helped pass in 2020, but in a way never intended to be used. The village is forcing business owners to spend money on unnecessary signage changes, often making storefronts look worse, and even requiring some to place mannequins in their windows just to avoid penalties. Some businesses, in desperation, have resorted to placing mannequins featuring products they don’t even sell simply to comply with these arbitrary demands.

This approach is not just misguided — it is punitive. Last year, Manger oversaw a $2.1 million spending increase, one of the largest in village history. Now, he is balancing his budget by extracting money from local businesses through fines and fees, all while boasting about record revenues in the Justice Court. Championing fines as a funding source for overspending, while cutting future taxes for the highest-value properties is a clear indication of how out of touch he has become.

And if there was any lingering doubt about Manger’s disconnect from the business community, one only needed to attend a recent discussion hosted at the Southampton Inn. When asked what he was doing to help local businesses, his proud response was that he had planted trees in front of McDonald’s. That alone speaks volumes.

Southampton Village is in need of a new direction. What Manger is doing isn’t working — and it’s only getting worse.

Jesse Warren

Southampton

Warren is a former mayor of Southampton Village — Ed.