Letters

The November 25 Southampton Village Board work session delivered yet another reminder of our village’s lack of ethics.

There were many cringeworthy moments, but none more uncomfortable than watching Trustee Roy Stevenson forced to read a prepared statement recusing himself because the matter involved his golf buddy and major campaign donor. That donor received a reduction in his taxable assessed value through the settlement of an Article 7 tax grievance.

What made the moment even more troubling was that Mayor Bill Manger also came into the meeting with a prepared statement expressing his intention to vote in favor of the reduction — while admitting the beneficiary was also his wealthy campaign contributor.

Then, during the same discussion, Trustee Len Zinnanti was forced to admit on camera that he, too, had received campaign donations from this same individual.

The scene was a deeply embarrassing display of political entanglement masquerading as government decision-making. Manger tried to present the settlement as something “independently reached” between his campaign donor and the village assessor, supposedly encouraged by a judge. But that narrative ignores the glaring problem: Three of the five Village Board members took money from the person receiving the tax benefit and were forced to publicly disclose it only moments before the vote.

If your village assessed value is more than 0.003 of your property’s market value, you are being treated unfairly. You are being forced to pay additional village taxes to subsidize the wealthy Manger, Zinnanti and Stevenson political donors who pay thousands upon thousands less than their rightful share of village taxes.

This village needs a mayor and trustees who will care about treating full-time residents with fairness and respect. The actions of Manger, Zinnanti and Stevenson have repeatedly demonstrated that they only care about their own self-interest.

David Rung

Southampton Village