For Immediate Release - 07 July 2006

Administration's Stance on Phase-in Doesn't Hold Water

Last week Scott Jackson, Hamden’s chief administrative officer, presented one phase-in option (under CT Statute 12-62c) that he said just wouldn’t help the right people. The Hamden Homeowners for Tax Relief couldn’t agree more.

The Hamden Homeowners are advocating for a phase-in under CT statute 12-62a, which they claim would provide the average homeowner a total of $535 in savings over three years. What shocked the residents in attendance wasn’t Jackson’s negative stance on phase-in, but his claim that Hamden’s computerized taxation system is so antiquated that it couldn’t handle a phase-in. “The fact is that Hamden instituted a town-wide phase-in July of 1980, which used the only statute available at the time [12-62]. The method is identical to the one [12-62a] we presented to the Council. The administration based their numbers on a method that wasn’t even created until 1987, so it can’t possibly be our only option” said Mark Sanders, an attorney and member of the Hamden Homeowners group, who presented a 12-62a-based phase-in option to the Council a couple of weeks earlier.

Appalled by the administration’s attempts to manipulate the facts and confuse Hamden’s Legislative Council about phase-in, the members of the Hamden Homeowners for Tax Relief are more determined than ever. Kelly McCarthy, a previous candidate for Council, said “its simply inexcusable for the administration to misrepresent the facts, capabilities and options available to the Town. They have every right to present their opinion of phase-in to the Council, but they shouldn’t limit the Council’s ability to make a good legislative decision by giving them inaccurate and irrelevant information.”

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