To the Editor:
How lawless and deceitful does a town budget process have to be before a significant number of residents care enough to do anything about it?  Or even bother to speak out?  The overwhelming deceitfulness, ineptitude, and dishonesty of the (GOP-led) budget process in the town of Berne is again on display.

In the current 2024 budget situation, The Enterprise reports that legally required summary information necessary for an understanding of the budget is being officially withheld on the preliminary budget and that’s in violation of state’s Town Law [“Taxes up in Hilltown budgets as costs rise, but only Berne likely to top tax cap,” Oct. 20, 2023].

The town clerk informed the Enterprise reporter that summary information will not be provided until the final version. That’s illegal and it is too late to review and discuss the proposed budget meaningfully, in public and in the timeframe dictated by law. This type of tactic is acceptable for our right-wing extremist/authoritarian supervisor as the 2022 budget process also illustrated. 

Do you own property in Berne? Did you ever receive your $200 tax rebate? It was publicly announced and outlined in the 2022 budget documents just prior to Election Day. 

That was a nearly $400,000 expenditure announced before Election Day, in public and it is featured in both the tentative and preliminary 2022 budget documents. Look at the bottom right on the summary sheets [posted with this letter]. Those notations were simply removed from the final budget document without discussion. 

 Do you think it’s a coincidence that the public was led to believe all these rebates were going to be paid just before Election Day? Buying votes is bad enough, but then not paying as promised adds another sinister and dishonest level to a clearly deceitful budget process.

Where is that money now? Who got the rebates? Go to the board and ask the supervisor for an explanation.

As a board member, I asked how they intended to distribute the rebates. Mr. [Supervisor Dennis] Palow and Mr. [Councilman Leo]Vane explained that everyone’s taxes would just be reduced by $200 [listen to the recording]. But the 2022 budget lowered the property tax rate way down to about 50 cents per thousand.

It amounted to a tax rate reduction of about 87 percent!  Think about that. They reduced the tax on a typical $250,000 property to about $125 with the 87 percent reduction.

Can you then just reduce a $125 tax bill by $200 to pay out this rebate to all property owners as Mr. Palow suggested? It is not possible. It’s a recipe for bankruptcy — negative tax revenue? It’s ridiculous.  It’s beyond demagoguery. They are either totally inept or they never really intended to pay this “rebate.”

That 87-percent reduction subtracted more than a half-million dollars in revenue. Think about that. A town of about 2,800 people and the tax revenue dropped more than a half-million while nearly $400,00 was to be just given away to property owners resulting in negative property tax revenue — all in one year.  Can it possibly get more absurd?

I learned in Town Board Training that budget management involves carefully considered and measured changes — think about the 2-percent cap. Erratic and extreme changes can send the year- to-year process wildly off-course.

Coincidentally, now the tax cap is to be exceeded a couple years later but that increase is being kept secret. Will it be a 100-percent rate increase?  Maybe 200 percent? Why not publish the percentage?

Berne had more than adequate reserves and revenue and was lowering taxes in carefully measured, responsible steps until the GOP takeover in 2020.  

So, after the erratic and irresponsible changes in the 2022 budget, The Enterprise reported Berne couldn’t pay the utility bills! These guys didn’t consider the elementary need to have operational cash on hand.

Berne is now nearly totally dependent on [its Albany County] sales-tax share. That revenue source is considered volatile by the [state] comptroller. Sales-tax share is paid to the town periodically. It is very vulnerable to economic downturns, its value and total erodes with inflation, and it’s paid at the discretion of the state and county.

A town clearly shouldn’t depend heavily on a volatile revenue source.  That is bad planning. 

The architects of these crazy budgets were, and still are, spending down the reserves to compensate for revenue reductions, spending increases, illegitimate jobs, and raises. This will all eventually result in a difficult funding and rebuilding process should we suffer another catastrophe like Hurricane Irene.

Think about lending-institution decisions when they are looking at a town with this record of well documented, unlawful financial violations, inadequate reserves, and inadequate revenue.  

With sufficient reserves, any emergency work could begin immediately — reimbursement usually comes later, after legislation, and if at all. If any borrowing becomes necessary, the rates are much better for a town in solid financial health.

That ship has sailed. This town’s standing is in severe decline. The damage could take years to repair, and then only if all the nonsense were to stop right now. Don’t say I haven’t warned you.

People need to attend the meetings and speak out against clearly inept and corrupt representation and the documented authoritarianism taking permanent root in Berne.  Speaking out, even in a public hearing can get you physically removed and threatened with arrest at the hands of the authoritarian supervisor.

This illegal constitutional violation has happened before as reported in The Enterprise. I have been visited by the police repeatedly and investigated repeatedly at the expense of the taxpayer for simply speaking out as has also been reported in The Enterprise.

That is also a constitutional violation. That is all illegal and it’s a hallmark of fascism. I have spent nothing in legal fees defending myself for five years. The board is pitifully inept. They are no legal threat.   People need to take a little risk and put an end to this nonsense. Please speak out! 

Joel Willsey

East Berne