Voting is only option to control an unfair tax

To the editor: For about 30 years, residents of the Sugar Loaf area of Chester, specifically those within the Warwick Valley School District, have been double taxed for library services. Approximately 1,000 households pay to support the town-chartered Chester Library as well as the school district-chartered Albert Wisner Library in Warwick. Chester residents aren’t the only ones. Statewide, about 70,000 New York households are being unfairly double taxed for library services. At the same time, thousands of New Yorkers, including thousands in Orange County, fall outside of any library district, but use our local libraries and pay absolutely no library tax. This ridiculous situation is caused by the state’s antiquated library chartering process. While Albany continues to try to brush this sad state of affairs under the rug and hopes nobody will notice, Chester residents are facing a major issue, one that will increase their library tax even higher. Now, we are being asked not just to pay to maintain a second library, but to build a brand new $8.5 million library for Warwick. A referendum to build the new facility is scheduled for March 8 and if it passes, our Warwick library tax will increase from 48 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to 83 cents per $1,000. That means a house assessed at $250,000 will see its Warwick library tax increase from $120 to $207, while a house assessed at $450,000 will see its tax go from $216 to $374. For those who dismiss it as only a few more dollars, keep in mind that this increase is on top of separate taxes you also pay to support the Chester library. Once the new Warwick library is built, you can be assured that the cost of stocking it, staffing it and maintaining a much larger structure will increase the tax rate to an even greater extent. Not to mention the fact that there has been no talk of what will happen to the old library building. If the school district takes it over, there’s a few more dollars to the taxman. Furthermore, as the Town of Chester grows, at some point our library will no doubt seek to expand, furthering increasing the library portion of your overall property tax bill and forcing you to fund the building of two libraries. Legislation to put an end to the double tax and remove Chester residents from the Warwick library district stalled in the state Assembly last year. While Assemblywoman Calhoun and Senator Larkin have pledged to once again sponsor such legislation, there is slim hope that it will be passed before the March 8 referendum date. The State Education Department, which oversees library issues, is content to continue to double tax 70,000 New Yorkers for library services. While the situation is frustrating, now is not the time to throw our hands up in the air and accept yet another higher tax. Chester residents in the Warwick Valley School District should be circling March 8 on their calendar now. The way I see it, this is not a vote in favor of or against the building of a new library. For those of us in the Sugar Loaf area, it is a vote based solely on unjust taxation. The referendum on March 8 is currently our only option to try to control this unfair and what should be illegal “double dipping” tax. Mary Marino Creagh Sugar Loaf