Go Charlie!

August 30, 2005

Blooming Grove and taxes

By Charles Bohan

The only message received by the residents of the Town of Blooming Grove from Mr. Quinton's Aug. 16 "My View" is dismay with his failure to differentiate between village and town government. This "candidate" exemplifies his lack of knowledge of the taxing authority of the school, town and village while attempting to say he has a "business plan."
Mr. Quinton laments about his disappearing taxes but neglects to acknowledge the increased costs of police protection, both village and town, road maintenance, including snow removal, parks and grounds as well as community recreational facilities and senior citizen programs. And I am pleased to have finally made Dial a Bus a reality for our residents.
Under my leadership, Blooming Grove has benefited from federal and state grants. In addition, much needed funding for individual areas throughout Blooming Grove has been successfully obtained to assist in the alleviation of a severe sewage problem in Mount Lodge, and the rebuilding of the Tappan Hill waste treatment plant.
On April 4 of this year, Little League was all but canceled due to flooding and washed out facilities. Yet, within 10 days, the fields were rebuilt and graded with little or no interruption. The great expense of accomplishing this was initially borne by the town, but eventually recovered by timely FEMA filing and disaster declaration.
I am pleased to have brought back fiscal accountability to Blooming Grove and will not forget the grand larceny perpetrated on our town treasury some four years ago. Having listened to repeated accusations over the last four years, I have requested state Comptroller Alan Hevesi to reopen the original inquiry and perform a much overdue forensic audit to fully account for the discrepancies.
Perhaps when this is completed, Mr. Quinton, along with all residents of Blooming Grove, will come to know where his taxes went!

Charles Bohan is the supervisor in the Town of Blooming Grove.