All Democrats, Independents, No Party Affilitation Voters, Green Party, and Working Families Party Voters should have received a large postcard with this information on it. If not, let us know.

Please Vote No on the proposition to create a new office of Town Tax Collector.
Here is the actual wording as it appears on the ballot:
“Shall the Tax Collector in the Town of Union Vale be restored as a public office selected by citizens voting in the General Election every two years effective 2019”

• Elected Tax Collector ended when the last Town Tax Collector voluntarily retired in June 2017 (The tax season is January to end of May. In June Dutchess County receives the taxes directly). On Jan. 18, 2018, when Ms. Maas suggested hiring a part time tax collector for whom the Town Hall would be open on Saturday, Councilman John Welsh said, “I think going through May would be more than enough”…(after May the County collects the towns’ taxes). Mr. Welsh further said, “I also think a lot of this could be done by mail.” Ms. Maas prevailed.
• The retiring elected Tax Collector was paid about $7,000 for this seasonal job. This year, thanks to Ms. Maas’ request for a motion, to suspend the Town Code in the cases of 5 ELECTED town officials and pay 100% of their supplemental health insurance premiums instead of the Town Code stipulated 50%, the retired Tax Collector will cost the Town $6,000. (As you know, Democrats are supportive of single payer health care for all—our problem here is that these recipients all were elected to office and were Town officials who had an ethical obligation to know Town Code, that some of them wrote, and to abide by it.)
• In the “whereas” section of this proposition the wording says that “it has been confirmed that” having the duties of tax collector transferred to the Town Clerk’s office does not negatively affect either service or performance. At the 9.20.18 TB Meeting a taxpayer asked how Councilmembers Frasier, McMorris, Welsh, and Supervisor Maas who voted for this resolution could confirm any comparison since there had been no opportunity for comparison. At the end of January 2018,Supervisor Maas hired a clerk to handle the collection of taxes and to work on Saturdays (Ms. Maas later said this was an extra $1,500 paid out). Since the season for tax collecting runs from Jan to May, and the last elected collector retired in May 2017, there was no comparison done.
• Combining the duties of seasonal tax collector and full time Town Clerk is a practice now in place in Amenia, Milan, Northeast, Pleasant Valley, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Stanford, and Washington. Using the Town Clerk’s office to collect taxes works and saves taxpayer money. Vote NO on this Proposition.