Carpenter disputes Bellone tax cut claim

Angie Carpenter, the Republican candidate for Suffolk County Executive, Thursday disputed Democratic opponent Steve Bellone's claim that he's lowered taxes as Babylon town supervisor, going to the home of an 84-year-old woman who said she has to sell her home because of rising taxes.

Sitting at a news conference in her Copiague home, Vincenza Rago said she'd lived there for 50 years, but was moving to a retirement home in Coram because the tax bill has gotten too much.

"My memories are here," said Rago, surrounded by framed photos of weddings and her children on her dining room walls.

According to a copy of the Copiague woman's tax bill released by the Carpenter campaign, Rago's overall tax bill has gone up from $7,988 in 2005 to $9,360 this year. Only $279, or a fifth of the increase, came from taxes controlled by Bellone and the town board. School district taxes made up 53 percent of Rago's tax bill in 2010; town taxes were 16 percent.

Carpenter, currently the county treasurer, blamed Bellone for the increase in the taxes under his control.

Bellone was unavailable for comment Thursday. Suffolk Democratic chairman Richard Schaffer said total town taxes have gone up by an average of about $140 total since Bellone became town supervisor 10 years ago.

He defended Bellone's claim on television ads and on his website that he's cut taxes, saying the town reduced taxes last year by $4 million. The brunt of the decrease came from lowering the town's refuse tax through reducing the garbage district capital reserve fund. A 2009 audit by state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found the town had put too much money in the fund.

Carpenter did not offer detailed ideas for keeping county taxes in check other than to reduce government bureaucracy.

Schaffer said, "It's kind of disgraceful that she has yet to tell one positive thing she's going to do to improve the financial and economic situation of the residents of Suffolk County."