Saugerties threatens to sue assessment activist

By Jesse J. Smith , Freeman Daily Freeman Thursday, March 2, 2005

SAUGERTIES - The town has sent a letter threatening legal action against a member of a local activist group that has leveled charges of favoritism and unfair practices against the Saugerties Assessor's Office.
The letter, addressed to Saugerties resident Steve Haun, was in response to a package submitted to the Town Board at a Feb. 16 meeting that included a letter implying former Assessor Paul Pavlovich may have illegally underassessed his own property. Haun is a member of Saugertesians Against Government Abuse, a group formed last year to challenge what members believe are unfair assessments in the town.
Haun's letter cited the assessments of properties belonging to Pavlovich and those of nearby properties as evidence that Pavlovich's land is underassessed.
The letter concludes with the words: "Is this an indication of how you are showing (current Assessor) Stephen Ryan the ropes, how assessments are done in Saugerties? (Town Board members), is this how you exercise oversight of the assessor's office. CRIMINAL?"
Town Attorney John J. Greco's letter to Haun, dated March 1, accuses Haun of using misinformation to smear the former assessor, who remains employed as a consultant to the Assessor's Office, and threatens legal action if Haun continues to accuse town officials of criminal acts.
"While you are certainly free to express your opinion and pursue any claim for alleged overassessment on your property, the town will not tolerate false allegations of criminal wrongdoing," Greco wrote. "If these slanderous and libelous statements continue, legal action will ensue. We will not sit back and have you continue to defame the good character of our town's employees and consultants."
On Thursday, Greco said Haun's statements included many inaccuracies and that his effort to compare Pavlovich's assessment to those of neighboring parcels was "comparing apples to oranges."
"If he thinks the Town Board, the Assessors Office or the town attorney are doing a lousy job, that's fine, he's free to say that," Greco said. "But these unsubstantiated, totally false allegations of criminal wrongdoing are crossing the line."
Greco declined to discuss who had initiated the legal response but said it was by consensus of the Town Board.
Haun defended his statements by saying all of the assessment information contained in the letter came from Ulster County Information Services. He said he was careful to pose the issue of criminal wrongdoing as a question, not a statement of fact, to avoid libeling anyone.
"From what I interpreted, if you look at Pavlovich's assessment compared to the properties around him, it leads one to wonder. That's why I put 'criminal' with a question mark," Haun said. "I don't want to speculate, I want to deal with facts."
Since last year, Saugertesians Against Government Abuse has compiled information on property owned by board members and other local officials in an effort to show a pattern of underassessment. The group also accuses the Assessor's Office of overvaluing properties owned by newcomers to town, incompetence and a slew of violations of state regulations.
A document detailing the group's claims was submitted recently to the Ulster County District Attorney's Office. Town officials call the group's claims spurious and say any disparity in assessments is a natural and legal byproduct of the lack of a revaluation in Saugerties since 1999. The town is undergoing a revaluation now that's expected to be completed later this month.

©Daily Freeman 2005

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