Lou Desso never thought anyone would find out that his friends in the county changed the job description of a long vacant job Deputy Mental Health Commissioner removing the requirements of two college degrees so he could grab an $82,000 pay check. He never figured he'd offend people by using his influence again to get his son a newly created job in the DA's office. And he never figured folks would find out he pulled strings to grab himself a huge 16% property assessment reduction by having the work done in another town.
He was wrong on all three counts and has made the front page of the Times Union Capital Region for all the wrong reasons today. You can read the full article here. The move will put an extra $1897.00 a year in his pocket, money that comes out of the pockets of the school district, the taxpayers who pay his county salary and town taxpayers who pay his salary as Supervisor. Ironic considering he's in a better financial position than most people to pay his fair share of taxes and is taking the money from the very employers who have feathered his 3800 square foot home complete with swimming pool. As the full article points out, one of the so called comparable properties is 92 Macha Lane. It is listed with a market value of $372,692 while Desso's home was set with the new market value number of $313,500. Desso's home has a pool while the 92 Macha Lane does not, yet one year ago today it sold for $407,000 according to on line listings. Clearly Desso's home was grossly under assessed.
So what are taxpayers to do about this ethically challenged move done behind their backs, ask Town Board he controls to investigate? Hell no, not one of them said a word of concern or criticism. How about the District Attorney? Whoops, he hired Lou's son in a newly created job as "spokesman" and Louie put up all those campaign signs for him. Well, about the only place to go might be the State Attorney General and his Office of Public Integrity. Mr. Schneiderman, are you reading the paper today?
2 comments:
Does the BS ever end with this guy??? I hope some ethical board looks into this- and who does he know in Brunswick that wired in this deal for him.
So the house used as a comparable on Macha Lane sold just a year ago for $407,000, yet the data file in the town assessors office was never updated to reflect the new fair market value (FMV) and no one checked then used the FMV listed in town hall at $372,692 to reduce Dessos FMV. Most likely Dessos home was under assessed based on FMV and was closer to its actual current FMV before it was lowered to the new FMV of $313,500. No due diligence in Brunswick to check on the comparables provided. BTW, when was Desso ever on the town Assessment Board of Review as he stated in the Times Union????
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