Letters

In 2022, I voted for the present Southampton Village mayor, Bill Manger. Like many of you, I was duped.

As Abraham Lincoln said, “… You can fool some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Fooling people, however, seems to be Bill Manger’s modus operandi.

The very first thing he did after getting elected was to try to change his and his super-majority’s terms, from two years to four. That effort was immediately rejected by the community.

He then gave himself and his running mates nonconforming and noncompetitive 30 to 40 percent raises. He also voted himself double-dipping “opt-out” payments and never eliminated the taxpayer-funded lifetime health benefits. In the 2023 campaign for mayor, Manger said he would eliminate the lifetime health care benefits, but he reneged on that promise.

Since then, he has repeatedly violated the Municipal Home Rule Law, the Freedom of Information Law and the Open Meetings Law. Most recently, he exempted himself from our zoning code to erect a solar awning eyesore, part of a $5.9 million project, without any site plan review or architectural review.

On traffic, he’s created new problems, only to declare victory after solving the messes of his own making. His budgets have grown by a staggering $3.2 million over two years, an unprecedented increase in the history of the village. Meanwhile, he’s drained over $900,000 from our reserve funds, with little to show for it.

Manger refuses to adjust an assessed value of property system that favors his wealthy benefactors but discriminates against and is detrimental to the residents of lower-valued properties. If you file a grievance, you are treated unfairly, with disrespect and vindictiveness. He even refuses to tell residents how assessed values are determined, yet he pretends to believe in transparency.

With a 4-1 supermajority on the board, he doesn’t listen to the public. He has refused to allow public comment in half of all meetings. Even when comment is allowed, the times have been changed to make public participation difficult.

We can’t afford to be fooled again.

David Rung

Southampton Village