Dear Mr. Clarkson,
The Gordon Heights Fire District Tax Crisis has plagued this community for too many years and the evidence of its’ impact on the community is more than obvious. In 1986 when I first moved here, my fire taxes were $ 900.00 while the rest of the residents in the Town of Brookhaven paid less than $100.00.
In 1986, I was part of a group of residents who got together to investigate why our fire taxes were so out-of-line. We discovered that we had a small fire district. We went to our elected officials at the Town of Brookhaven for some guidance and were advised that we could request that an audit be performed on the fire district. Which we did. The NYS Comptrollers office found that “although there were some misappropriations of taxpayers money” we were required, by law, to continue to fund the Gordon Heights Fire District.
In 2006, after the Newsday Fire Alarm Series, a group of residents got to together and started up the investigation again. At that time, I did not know the residents in the section of the fire district known as Fairway on the Woods. These residents are paying well over $ 2500.00 in fire taxes to the Gordon Heights Fire District. because their homes are fairly new. I joined forces with them just after the Newsday Fire alarm story was published. These newer residents were surprised to hear that the residents living inside the community of Gordon Heights had been complaining (as individuals) for years to the Town of Brookhaven and that their complaints had fallen on deaf ears. Together we contacted a number of our elected officials including our County Executive, Steve Levy, who sent our group a letter advising us of the town law which allows resident homeowners to file a petition to dissolve a fire district. Which, as you know, we have also done.
Our elected officials have rejected our petition and now advise us to retain a lawyer and re-do the petition. Here lies our problem. We have been in contact with several lawyers, all of them are willing to take on our cause but at a tremendous expense. We have asked the Town of Brookhaven repeatedly to provide us with a sample petition, to no avail. Yet they seem to have the time and legal resources (at taxpayers expense) for an extensive review of the latest petition submitted to determine that it was defective. We have also been in touch with the NYS Department of State, who much to our surprise, have told us they are only allowed to talk to municipalities.
We must confess to being a little baffled. When you go to the DMV to take a road test, they tell you what you have to do to pass the test. They don’t say “take the test and we’ll see how you do” or “we’re not supposed to talk to you” or “you’ll have to get a lawyer”. Similarly for many other NYS permits, applications and procedures which have extensive and well-documented requirements and guidelines. So what’ s the problem with the Town of Brookhaven giving us a petition guideline to follow.
Most communities would not feel the financial impact of hiring an attorney at a cost of a couple hundred dollars per family. Unfortunately, this is a low income community. As the person who knocked on all the doors in this neighborhood to collect the signatures for the petition, I would like to share some of the financial struggles my neighbors are facing.
1. One lady cried when she saw me because she thought I was a bill collector. When I explained to her that I was there trying to get our taxes lowered by dissolving the Fire District, she told me that she was too afraid to sign the petition. She has lived in the community her entire life and that she was afraid that members of the Fire Department would harass her or blame her for closing down the fire department. This woman cannot afford to pay her bills how can she afford to pay for the attorneys fees?
2. One woman in particular has 5 kids with one old couch in her house. She has a beat up kitchen table and broken down chairs. Her kids looked well cared for and very cheerful. She is proud woman who, when I asked if she was the homeowner of the house” lifted up her chest and said YES. This woman is doing her best to provide the bare necessities for her family.
3. There is another single woman living here trying to make ends meet. She cannot pay her property taxes and is falling behind on the payments. Her house will soon be in the arrears.
4. How about my neighbor whose house went into foreclosure? He signed the petition and has since had to get family members to give him money to save his home.
5. Then there are the other residents who live in this district that have to take the bus to go to work. The bus stop is in front of the Gordon Heights Fire Department. I wonder how many other communities have a bus stop in front of their fire house? None that I can think of. The commissioners see these folks struggling everyday to get to work yet they have no problem hiring limos to take them to their $35,000 installation dinner.
You see, Mr. Clarkson, I could go on and on about the financial woes of this community. We are not wealthy people; just ordinary folks living paycheck to paycheck. We bought our homes in an “affordable” community but the fire district has driven the hardworking people here onto the brink of destruction. Allowing this fire district to financially “drain” our community is unconstitutional. I, myself, even asked public-ally for a pro-bono lawyer. Believe me, we need fire tax relief from this unfair and an unjustified financial burden placed on the taxpayers of this community. The fire district no longer serves the best interest of this community .
On behalf of myself and the residents of the Gordon Heights Fire District, we greatly appreciate all your efforts and those of all commissioners on this panel. We wish to thank all of you for your assistance in this matter and hope you will be able to help us finally resolve this problem. visit www.ghfdtax.com Sincerely, Rosalie Hanson,
