Hold the endorsements!

Every town has at least one and North Greenbush is no exception. We've been flooded with emails forwarded by folks bewildered by town resident John Schnebly. Life at Pond Hill must be boring because John is running around telling folks he is running for town Democratic Chairman.

In so doing, John has been busy in these emails announcing his support for Republican candidates Mark Evers and Katie Connolly. Yes, the "subject" line of this email reads "Reassessment of North Greenbush". Schnebly has apparently been visiting with high county officials including the County Executive, to push for a total reassessment in North Greenbush and perhaps all of Rensselaer County which is apparently the centerpiece for his campaign for party chairman.

Yipes, what a platform! We especially like the part where he states " All this information is to be on an Xcell spreadsheet so that I can further manipulate the data to determine the optimum level of taxation." And he wants to work with his "winners" in the November election to "see if we can serve as a model for reassessment". Now there's a winning platform for the Schnebly Team if we ever saw one!

So folks, hold on to your wallets and get ready to vote, first for his candidates for town and county offices and then, of course for John Schnebly as Chairman of the Democratic Party where he thinks he can pull the necessary strings and have the power to order a town, if not countywide reassessment of property.

It should be quite a campaign as the current crop of candidates get ready to announce their support for "Plan Schnebly". We can't wait!

--- On Tue, 9/1/09, John Schnebly wrote:

From: John Schnebly
Subject: Reassessment of North Greenbush
To: "Bill Batt" , "Mark Evers" , "Katy Connolly" "Kathleen Jimino"
Cc: "David Borton"
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 5:04 AM

Dear Bill, [Center for the Study of Economics, Supporting Land Value Taxation, H.William Batt, PhD, Albany, NY]

I am now running to become the new Chair of the Democratic Party in my hometown of North Greenbush. Yesterday I visited with Francis H. Curtis, Director of the Bureau of Real Property Tax Services for Rensselaer County. I have a meeting this morning with Kathleen Jimino, the County Executive of Rensselaer County. I will attempt to get Kathy to approve that Curtis does the following:

1. Count all land parcels in North Greenbush and calculate the average size of parcel

2. Determine the average taxation per parcel by dividing parcels against assesment taxation revenue.

3. Determine the distribution of parcel sizes

4. Determine the dates of construction of all improvements on parcels.

5. Give me a listing of all parcels, the size of each, the size of structures upon each, the dates of construction of said structures, and the current taxation attached to each.

6. All this information is to be on an Xcell spreadsheet so that I can further manipulate the data to determine the optimum level of taxation.

7. Run this optimum against the age of the owners of said parcels to assure that the fixed income elderly do not get hurt by any reassessment.

With this data in hand, I intend to work with the winners of the November elections to see if we can serve as a model for reassessment in Rensselaer County, given that the last reassessment in North Greenbush occured in 1981, about 30 years prior to any decisions by North Greenbush to face its growing tax assessment problems.

I hereby announce that I will be seeking advice and consultation with your Center in the performance of these tasks.

Best Wishes,

sneb