Without PDR, Warwick will be ‘like toast - or Rockland'

To the editor: Last week Ms. DeClerck of Century 21 Realty wrote a letter making an important claim about Southampton’s experience with a real estate transfer fee. Strangely, what she wrote was false. She said in her letter was that the real estate transfer fee on the East End of Long Island was raised from 2 to 4 percent. This is simply not true. What the voters in five towns on Long Island did do was to vote overwhelmingly to extend their 2 percent real estate transfer fee for another 10 years - from 2010 to 2020. There was no doubling -- no increase at all -- of the transfer fee. Why did Ms. DeClerck say there was? Was this an honest mistake or was it an attempt to confuse people with a lie? Perhaps she will explain. Whether or not she chooses to explain, when someone says they are for preserving open space and then goes on to attack the only tool we have to preserve open space, their sincerity is open to question. It seems pretty simple to me. We have had great success with the Purchase of Development Rights Bond program. With PDR we are going to save more than 2,300 acres of land, plus we’ve gotten a beautiful beach in Greenwood Lake. Further, since cows don’t go to school, we have saved a bundle on future school taxes. Unfortunately, the PDR money is just about gone. In November, we will have a chance to vote on a 0.75 percent (yes, ¾ of one percent) transfer fee, with an exemption for the first $100,000. This is a much lower rate than Southampton. This fee is our last best chance to preserve the character of our community. If we don’t do this, we are toast - or, more accurately, we’ll become like Rockland County. Our quality of life will go down as our taxes will go up. We need to act now to preserve the character of our community. This November there will be a referendum on the ballot asking voters whether they want to establish a Community Protection Fund. I urge you to vote yes in November. Andrew McLaughlin Warwick