June 07, 2018
The following letter was published in this week’s issue of the Gazette.
To the editor: In the May 24/30 issue of the Gazette, I wrote a letter outlining why the Croton proposed Local Law 5 and proposed Resolution were illegal. None of the Board chose to respond directly, but rather once again Mr. Masur in his capacity as Chairman of the Croton Democratic Village Committee was the one to defend the actions taken by the Croton Board of Trustees (The Gazette, week of May 31/June 6).
Mr. Masur quotes me as saying that the trustees were “pitching a tax avoidance scheme which is both illegal and creates liability for residents and the municipality itself.” Mr. Masur then goes on to object on the basis that “This was the foundational premise of Mr. Steinberg’s lengthy letter to the editor, despite the fact that, as he well knows, no such proposal was ever voted on by the trustees.”
Mr. Masur is blatantly misleading in quoting me because he omits the word preceding the sentence fragment. My actual full quote can be found at paragraph 4 of my letter: “Along with other municipalities in New York, New Jersey, and California, the Village of Croton-on-Hudson is considering pitching a tax avoidance scheme….”
By omitting the first clause of the sentence, and in particular the “considering” language, Mr. Masur alters my statement and then criticizes me for a position which I did not express. I made it clear that there were proposed schemes in 3 states as well as in Croton. My objection is to the underlying scheme, and that applies wherever it is proposed.
The Village of Croton Board of Trustees has now had 3 meetings on this proposed Local Law, and according to statements made by the Village Attorney will be spending more taxpayer time attending a meeting in White Plains on June 8. READ MORE AT http://www.crotonunited.org/news-views/2018/6/7/we-cannot-disobey-federal-law-just-because-we-dont-like-who-is-president
