Desso Screws 16 Rensselaer Homeowners

He's branching out! Now he's been caught putting the screws to 16 or is it 17 homeowners in the city of Rensselaer whose properties straddle the town line,some by just feet. Desso allowed the town to place these residents in a North Greenbush water district, Number 5B, charging a 30 year bond.

It didn't matter to Desso's staff in town hall, the town comptroller Tony Germano or the building department, all of whom at one time or another received calls from angry Rensselaer residents. It didn't matter that none of the homes pay taxes to North Greenbush, school or property. It didn't matter that all are hooked up to Rensselaer's water system and pay for their water accordingly. Nope, Lou and his industrious folks in town hall put them all in a town water district and the best part, they couldn't have voted on the creation of the district if they wanted to because they are not on the town tax rolls.

So beautiful was the plan that no one found out about the scheme until they got their first water bond tax bill. A mistake, one resident thought, discarding the bill. Month's later he reads his name in the legal notices for delinquent taxes. He succumbs to the town, pays the bill, with penalties including the cost of the legal notice!

Fast forward 3 years and the Times Union gets a call and conducts an investigation. Yep "Lootin" Louie" as he is called by Brian Olsen, the so called "gun guy", causes another outrageous and embarrassing episode in the sad chapters of Desso's tenure on the town board. If you're bored you can do a search in the Times Union using the word Desso and you can read article after embarrassing article involving Lou Desso.

But the irony here is inescapable. Lou trying to save a buck, reduced his own taxes 16% by sneaking over to his pals in Brunswick, back when he had influence in the GOP. Again, dialing for dollars, he refused to pay his $6,270 restaurant fundraiser bill until brought to court. He was forced to pay the max the court could award, $5000 but still stiffs the restaurant for the $1270 balance. He takes unlawfully high campaign contributions, well over the $1000 maximum allowed by law and has his hands out to every developer and contractor in town seeking approvals for contributions, raising more money than any town board member in the county! And lets not forget that he failed to pay town fees of $2100 for 18 months on his sewer district until caught by a FOIL request.

You can read the Times Union here. The only question is whether Lou embarrasses the town on the Front Page or the Capital Region in tomorrow's Sunday edition. Maybe the County Executive will demand the town reimburse these residents for all the money North Greenbush took from them over the past 3 years.