We Need Budget-Minded Council Members, Bloomingdale Councilman Says

The following was submitted by Bloomingdale Councilman and Bloomingdale Budget Committee Chairman Ray Yazdi. If you'd like to submit a Letter to the Editor, send it to ariana.cohn-sheehan@patch.com

Dear Editor:

Let me begin by thanking Bloomingdale’s voters for supporting John D’Amato and me in last year’s election. You gave us an opportunity to improve the direction of our town. I would ask the voters to continue this progress by supporting Mike Sondermeyer and Rich Dellaripa; they are the clear choice for our community.

Mike and Rich have the familiarity with our town, the qualifications and the experience necessary to serve Bloomingdale: they have roots in our town and are raising their families here; they have a long history of volunteering for community service; and they have bachelor’s degrees, plus many years of professional business experience managing multimillion dollar budgets. They will do everything possible to control our taxes, offer us better leadership, and stop the political games that block progress in our town. Like John and me, Mike and Rich are committed to serving our community, moving forward and putting the needs of Bloomingdale first.

The council majority has mismanaged our borough in many ways. They have repeatedly put their political interests first, far ahead of the interests of Bloomingdale’s residents. As Bloomingdale’s budget chairman and a finance professional that creates and projects long- and short-term financial solutions, for a fortune 100 company, I have worked closely with our mayor on the PILOT program and shown the benefits of this new revenue for our residents, both immediate and long-term. I have held several meetings and presentations explaining this, and you can find more detail at our borough website here.

Bloomingdale desperately needs this new revenue, which is over four times the revenue regular taxation would bring us, to immediately help stabilize our taxes and will eliminate our $12 million dollars worth of debt within 15 years, freeing up $1.2 million out of total $9.7 million dollar municipal budget, to be used as tax relief for all of us.

Majority has denied you this tax relief by voting ‘No’ to the PILOT program, but there’s still time to pass this before those buildings are completed. The ROSE Fund Municipal Question is another attempt by the majority to mislead the public: they claim that they are lowering taxes, but they are really playing a shell game with taxpayers’ money by shifting taxes from the ROSE Fund to the municipal budget. Please vote no for the ROSE Fund question—let me be clear, voting yes to this question will result in increased taxes.

The PILOT and ROSE Fund are just two examples of the budget manipulation and mismanagement by this majority. Of course there are many more from 2011 and I can go on and on. The truth is, they have no real understanding of how our municipal budget works, and they have no plan for improving Bloomingdale or offering tax relief to residents. Mike and Rich, on the other hand, have a plan for Bloomingdale that includes finding innovative solutions for tax relief, reducing debt, and restoring pride in our community. Mike and Rich are committed to putting Bloomingdale first.

I would like to thank our residents for allowing me to serve them. I would also like to assure them that we will get Bloomingdale’s municipal taxes in check by electing budget-minded professionals like Mike and Rich. Please join me in supporting them on Nov. 6.

Ray Yazdi