ELLENVILLE – The taxpayers of Ellenville are, to put it mildly, unhappy with their lot. In fact, when you talk to them you can garner everything from screaming outrage to weary cynicism. There is a broad consensus in the village that their elected leaders, at every level of government, have failed them.

Some months ago, the Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach (CRREO) at SUNY New Paltz published a report — "Equity and the Property Tax Burden for Citizens in Ulster County" — which demonstrated conclusively that the taxpayers of the Village of Ellenville pay at least twice as much property tax as anyone else in Ulster County. This report confirmed what many had suspected for some time now. And taxpayer anger has risen accordingly.

"I've lived here for 23 years, and I'm not going to lose my house because I can't pay my mortgage," says Dorian Lennert. "No, I could lose it, because of the incredible taxes."

Lennert, a nurse, who works two jobs — full time at Ellenville Regional Hospital and then part time with a doctor — is caught in the middle of Ellenville's taxation nightmare.

"I want to move. I want to downsize, but I can't sell my house. People look at it, they love it, but they won't buy when they hear what the taxes are."

Lennert pays close to $9,000 a year in property taxes. If she was in Scarsdale this figure might make sense.

"What do I get for all that money? I can tell you what I don't get. No garbage collection, no sidewalks; it is crazy what's happening here."

If you talk to Michael Halliday, who owns a couple of commercial buildings on Center Street, plus a house in the Town of Wawarsing, you can see that the frustration over this situation bubbles up like lava from a volcano.

"Ellenville is in a crisis, and business as usual isn't going to do it. My total tax bill is over $25,000, and if you get behind on these taxes the penalties are severe."

Halliday surveys the empty storefronts throughout the village and points to the obvious. "Smart money does not go to stupid places. People aren't willing to come in here and buy these buildings or start businesses because of the taxes. As a result, there are no jobs, no business. The kids graduate from school and they have to leave because there is no opportunity here for them."

Eric Cafaro, a property developer who has lived in Ellenville for six years, is blunt in his assessment of the situation. "The Village of Ellenville is getting screwed in every way. Ellenville should be leaps and bounds ahead of Liberty, but we're not."

The culprit in his view: "The taxes in Ellenville are unfair. There hasn't been a revaluation for decades, maybe fifty years. In Liberty and Monticello now, they are doing revaluations on a yearly basis. The situation here now is insane. I have an 1,800 square foot house and I pay $8,000 a year in taxes."

Willie Stedner has had his business on Canal Street for 21 years. He grew up here. He was a village official for six years. He points to the frozen politics of the property tax assessment as being at the root of the problem.

"I was calling for a revaluation. And after that I couldn't get reelected dog catcher. Everyone's afraid of doing anything with the assessment. If you want to get reelected you don't mess with the assessment."

The lack of a revaluation ties into another stick of political dynamite: the dissolution of the Village of Ellenville. Stedner thinks that's essential for any progress to be made. "We have to dissolve the village. The less government, the better, in my view."

Of course, that idea pits over-taxed residents in the village against the under-taxed residents in the Town of Wawarsing, many of whom whose tax bills would likely go up after a town-wide revaluation equalizes the tax burden on all of the town's residents.

Cafaro, who has properties in nearby towns and understands the dynamics of the tax situation, nails it neatly. "There are people outside the village who have land worth, two, three, five hundred thousand, and they pay $1,100-$2,000 a year. Meanwhile a little house in Eastview is paying $8,000 a year in taxes."

Lennert, who has to struggle with the bitter sense of betrayal she feels says, "I'll never vote for Ed Jennings again. Not after what he said a month or so ago. I cut it out and kept it. He said, 'I think the people who are paying high taxes are the ones who can afford it. I don't want to help one group of people and hurt another group.'"

But can the Town of Wawarsing just sit back and refuse to change, refuse to have a revaluation?

"Ultimately, no," says Cafaro, "because the Village will die. There'll be a black hole here. And when enough village taxpayers leave, the town will have to carry the burden of the schools on its own."

In the meantime, Dorian Lennert poses another pertinent question.

"Why is there no assistance for those of us who are struggling to pay the taxes?"

Lennert has been fighting to keep her head above water for several years. She asked former Village Manager Elliot Auerbach what she could do about her inability to pay one year's tax bill. He told her to work out a payment plan with the village. However, when Lennert went to try and work something out with the village, she reports no success.

"Forget it!" she says with a bitter laugh. "They told me there's no payment plan. There was no concern about this at all. It's your problem, not theirs. They don't make any effort whatsoever. It's all just penalties."

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