I just receive a letter from the town regarding an annual fire inspection they have to perform on my 3 family house in town. There is a $45 fee for a pre inspection to point out any violations, a $100 fee for the actual inspection, and additional penalties for violations they find during the inspection. Are you fucking kidding me? The insane property taxes alone should more than cover these inspections. If I ran my business the way this town is run I would be in prison...
Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld And this is how Port Chester is improving Joe - they are inline with other communities here. These fees and fines are a step in the right direction. While you may be a law abiding owner of a multi-family - there are many that are not. Sorry kiddo - but ya all get lumped together. It will get worse before it gets better.
Thursday at 10:28am · 3
Bart Didden Interesting post Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld because while I am willing to help our residents with a so called soft landing with programs such as Amnesty, you on the other hand are defending the efforts of the Code Enforcement office and supporting their mission to do inspections. you wrote - "but ya all get lumped together. It will get worse before it gets better." You are absolutely correct. It is to bad that we are in election cycle and the Mayor wants to stop the program and ADMITTED he told residents NOT TO USE THE AMNESTY PROGRAM. Now what message does that send? Look its very simple, a little pain with lots of compassion now, or no Amnesty Program down the road and lots of fees, fines and penalties.
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Dennis Pilla Good morning,
Respectfully, I don't think it would be fair for 1 and 2 family home owners to have to subsidize these inspections for income-producing multi-family and commercial properties through property taxes.
There's been a recurring theme here that the single family homeowners have been subsidizing these larger income producing multi-family and commercial properties through their property taxes over the years: for garbage, for sewer load, for schools.
Look at the value of your typical 1 family home, and look at the value of the 3+ family homes and even some Main Street properties:
A 3 family home isn't typically worth 3 times as much as a 1 family home, is it? They do however usually have 3 times more garbage & sewer load, & sometimes kids in our schools....
That's why I pushed to charge for sewer load based on your water consumption, and we took it out of property taxes. We should do more of that where possible.
That's also why I spend quite a bit of time in Albany, and collaborating with other Westchester mayors to lobby changing our state property tax laws.
We need to reform the way we pay for local government services & our schools away from property taxes and to be more like other states.
NY property tax laws are skewed for NYC and broken for the rest of us in the state.
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Bart Didden Dennis Pilla are you claiming (or just more pandering) that 1 and 2 family homes (where voters are found) are subsidizing school taxes for commercial properties? These commercial properties, which I own some, have no chance of producing a single student into the school system, so how can you make such a baseless statement. Ah yes, you are running for re-election. Maybe you should try to make all of us residents and commercial property owners feel better about the taxes we pay since you consistently vote against tax cutting measures.
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Yesterday at 10:18am · 1
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Linda Turturino Bottom line if you have a 3 bedroom house and have 15 mattress in them the Village has no problem with that and Village employees have even stated so - I know someone will back me up - this is the problem eyes shut no enforcement !
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Linda Turturino Liz quick question do you have a CO for your house ? And if you do does the Village have a copy ? if not it may not be as easy to get OUT as you think
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Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld Very funny Linda! Very funny! Lets see, how many mattresses can I fit...hmmm..counting the basement which has a bathroom even - hmmmm thats a lot of rental revenue...hmmm...Just call me slum lord lizzie.
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Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld oh and a nice big backyard - I can even supply the tents...I can make a lot more once the weather turns warm - except those damn coyotes may pose a problem - oh wait...but I'll buy some assault rifles - problem solved!
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Linda Turturino no no i would never but serious do you have a CO if not you are in the toilet with the rest of us
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Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld I'm working on it - I'll fix whatever problems there are - even though I'm sure it will be a pain....haha
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Dennis Pilla I am enjoying reading this discussion and I notice there is 1 quick fact correction that is needed regarding someone's earlier post about what I said or think.
Someone (guess who?) wrongly posted here that I want to stop the Amnesty Program. This is not true at all! (I have said it has gone awry.)
In fact, I have been very vocal that I want to *extend* Amnesty to give people more time to sign up & more time to make corrections (under certain circumstances).
Also, I am pushing hard to enhance the amnesty program - particularly to better deal with old, open permits you may have inherited when you bought your house, & permits the Building Dept issued in error.
I think it's plain wrong how the Village is not being more equitable with these problems which the Village basically ignored in the past.
To that point, I think the current amnesty program is not enough, and that the Village should find a more equitable solution for permits the village overlooked before (when they gave new owners a letter saying "no open permits or problems").
I AM suggesting to folks who are not in a hurry to sell their home to WAIT to sign up for Amnesty until we have figured this out and made it better. This part is true.
I hope this is helpful to clarify the facts.
21 hours ago · 1
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Bart Didden The facts are simple Dennis Pilla. You beat to your own drum and if its not your way its no way. You said in the meeting that YOU told residents not to apply to the Amnesty Program and as such you are not supporting the will of the Board or a program of the Village of Port Chester. Why should our employees or department heads care about Board decisions? Maybe they just listen to you. Hey guess what, I don't care for some of your ideas but I am the TRUE team player because I support the action of the Board. As the Mayor, the leader you are expected to do the same whether or not you agree with the final vote on everything, not just somethings or your things. This sounds like a personality flaw to me.
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Mary Ellen Smith Hey Bryan I said that to someone last week. We could charge for tickets and see where that money goes!
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Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld you know...the Friends of the Library need a great fundraiser - as long as no one really gets hurt...no violence - maybe those foam swords?
21 hours ago · 2
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Denis Ian Mr. Didden, you need to put your knife away. We DO want to hear your views, but this snarky stuff is wearin' thin. You're sabotaging any hope of drawing folks to your point of view. You are a dedicated public servant. That's never been an issue. But this never-ending, drive-by, hit-and-run stuff turns me off. I know you've got the well-being of this village as a top priority, but nothing will ever be resolved as long you muddle your message with this personal slop.
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Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld And this is how Port Chester is improving Joe - they are inline with other communities here. These fees and fines are a step in the right direction. While you may be a law abiding owner of a multi-family - there are many that are not. Sorry kiddo - but ya all get lumped together. It will get worse before it gets better.
Thursday at 10:28am · 3
Bart Didden Interesting post Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld because while I am willing to help our residents with a so called soft landing with programs such as Amnesty, you on the other hand are defending the efforts of the Code Enforcement office and supporting their mission to do inspections. you wrote - "but ya all get lumped together. It will get worse before it gets better." You are absolutely correct. It is to bad that we are in election cycle and the Mayor wants to stop the program and ADMITTED he told residents NOT TO USE THE AMNESTY PROGRAM. Now what message does that send? Look its very simple, a little pain with lots of compassion now, or no Amnesty Program down the road and lots of fees, fines and penalties.
- Dennis Pilla Good morning,
Respectfully, I don't think it would be fair for 1 and 2 family home owners to have to subsidize these inspections for income-producing multi-family and commercial properties through property taxes.
There's been a recurring theme here that the single family homeowners have been subsidizing these larger income producing multi-family and commercial properties through their property taxes over the years: for garbage, for sewer load, for schools.
Look at the value of your typical 1 family home, and look at the value of the 3+ family homes and even some Main Street properties:
A 3 family home isn't typically worth 3 times as much as a 1 family home, is it? They do however usually have 3 times more garbage & sewer load, & sometimes kids in our schools....
That's why I pushed to charge for sewer load based on your water consumption, and we took it out of property taxes. We should do more of that where possible.
That's also why I spend quite a bit of time in Albany, and collaborating with other Westchester mayors to lobby changing our state property tax laws.
We need to reform the way we pay for local government services & our schools away from property taxes and to be more like other states.
NY property tax laws are skewed for NYC and broken for the rest of us in the state. - Bart Didden Dennis Pilla are you claiming (or just more pandering) that 1 and 2 family homes (where voters are found) are subsidizing school taxes for commercial properties? These commercial properties, which I own some, have no chance of producing a single student into the school system, so how can you make such a baseless statement. Ah yes, you are running for re-election. Maybe you should try to make all of us residents and commercial property owners feel better about the taxes we pay since you consistently vote against tax cutting measures.
- Yesterday at 10:18am · 1
- Linda Turturino Bottom line if you have a 3 bedroom house and have 15 mattress in them the Village has no problem with that and Village employees have even stated so - I know someone will back me up - this is the problem eyes shut no enforcement !
- Linda Turturino Liz quick question do you have a CO for your house ? And if you do does the Village have a copy ? if not it may not be as easy to get OUT as you think
- Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld Very funny Linda! Very funny! Lets see, how many mattresses can I fit...hmmm..counting the basement which has a bathroom even - hmmmm thats a lot of rental revenue...hmmm...Just call me slum lord lizzie.
- Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld oh and a nice big backyard - I can even supply the tents...I can make a lot more once the weather turns warm - except those damn coyotes may pose a problem - oh wait...but I'll buy some assault rifles - problem solved!
- Linda Turturino no no i would never but serious do you have a CO if not you are in the toilet with the rest of us
- Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld I'm working on it - I'll fix whatever problems there are - even though I'm sure it will be a pain....haha
Dennis Pilla I am enjoying reading this discussion and I notice there is 1 quick fact correction that is needed regarding someone's earlier post about what I said or think.
Someone (guess who?) wrongly posted here that I want to stop the Amnesty Program. This is not true at all! (I have said it has gone awry.)
In fact, I have been very vocal that I want to *extend* Amnesty to give people more time to sign up & more time to make corrections (under certain circumstances).
Also, I am pushing hard to enhance the amnesty program - particularly to better deal with old, open permits you may have inherited when you bought your house, & permits the Building Dept issued in error.
I think it's plain wrong how the Village is not being more equitable with these problems which the Village basically ignored in the past.
To that point, I think the current amnesty program is not enough, and that the Village should find a more equitable solution for permits the village overlooked before (when they gave new owners a letter saying "no open permits or problems").
I AM suggesting to folks who are not in a hurry to sell their home to WAIT to sign up for Amnesty until we have figured this out and made it better. This part is true.
I hope this is helpful to clarify the facts.21 hours ago · 1- Bart Didden The facts are simple Dennis Pilla. You beat to your own drum and if its not your way its no way. You said in the meeting that YOU told residents not to apply to the Amnesty Program and as such you are not supporting the will of the Board or a program of the Village of Port Chester. Why should our employees or department heads care about Board decisions? Maybe they just listen to you. Hey guess what, I don't care for some of your ideas but I am the TRUE team player because I support the action of the Board. As the Mayor, the leader you are expected to do the same whether or not you agree with the final vote on everything, not just somethings or your things. This sounds like a personality flaw to me.
- Mary Ellen Smith Hey Bryan I said that to someone last week. We could charge for tickets and see where that money goes!
- Elizabeth Czajkowski-Rotfeld you know...the Friends of the Library need a great fundraiser - as long as no one really gets hurt...no violence - maybe those foam swords?21 hours ago · 2
- Denis Ian Mr. Didden, you need to put your knife away. We DO want to hear your views, but this snarky stuff is wearin' thin. You're sabotaging any hope of drawing folks to your point of view. You are a dedicated public servant. That's never been an issue. But this never-ending, drive-by, hit-and-run stuff turns me off. I know you've got the well-being of this village as a top priority, but nothing will ever be resolved as long you muddle your message with this personal slop.
