CHATHAM–The Village Board has agreed to publish the names and addresses of the properties that are behind on paying their village taxes.
In 2016 the board hired local attorney Mitch Khosrova to follow up with zoning code enforcement concerns at several properties in the village. Two properties that had major codes violations and overdue villages taxes were 8 Brookside Avenue and 134 Hudson Avenue.
At the board’s latest meeting, February 8, Mayor Tom Curran said Mr. Khosrova suggested that one option for the village is to ask the county to collect the late property taxes.
Also, board members discussed having the village foreclose on some of the properties. Clerk Debra Meyers talked about one three-acre property that Mr. Curran said might be a good spot future wellhead for the village.
The board agreed that the Brookside Avenue and Hudson Avenue properties are dangerous and need to be dealt with.
Board members decided to release the names of the property owners and addresses of the properties with the amount of taxes they owe to the press at the meeting.
Ms. Meyers said the late bills go back more than two years and that it’s all public information.
The total amount of overdue taxes for the properties on the list comes to $77,416.42, according to the board.
Below are the records supplied by the village:
Delinquent Tax List
Trefethen: 66.5-1-18 ($12,845.37) 8 Brookside Avenue
Zeissett: 66.13-3-11 ($11,574.28) 134 Hudson Avenue
Bruneau: 66.10-3-20 ($4,978.62) 21 Thomas Street
Bruneau: 66.10-3-21 ($2,998.11) 23 Thomas Street
Cofield: 66.17-2-39 ($2,314.91) Payn Parkway
Cofield: 66.17-2-38 ($1,060.19) Payn Parkway
Cazalet: 66.9-2-12 ($5,469.55) 50 Hudson Avenue
Jackson: 66.10-2-65 ($12,998.92) 7 Harmon Heights
McGuire: 66.9-2-34 ($2,487.23) 16 Maiden Lane
Dalzell: 56.18-1-1 ($271.10) River Street
Thielen: 66.9-2-36 ($4,758.31) 1 Cemetery Hill Road
Juhre: 66.9-2-38 ($3,183.60) 63 Hudson Avenue
JC & Me: 66.6-1-19 ($1883.28) 19 Central Square
Moon: 66.6-2-7 ($62.63) 8 Grove Street
Pollock: 66.9-3-47 ($1,147.04) 7 Academy Place
Nancyscans: 66.13-3-7 ($6,408.87) 124 Hudson Avenue
Coon: 66.10-1-19 ($1,656.35) 54 Main Street.
The list is also posted on the Village of Chatham website at www.villageofchatham.org.
Also at the meeting:
• The board talked about overnight parking in the village. Sergeant Joseph Alessi, who gave the Chatham Police report at the meeting, said the department “issued a number of tickets” for overnight parking. The state and the county plow the sections of Routes 295, 66 and 203 that are in the village.
The mayor said the Hudson Avenue and Main Street need to be clear of cars for plowing overnight. There is no overnight parking in the village, according to the board, but the village website says, “overnight parking is allowed in the Depot Square parking area near the Herrington’s warehouse and in the small lot south of the Kinderhook Bank. Overnight parking is also allowed on the following streets: Cemetery Hill (south-east side, from the cemetery entrance to Maiden Lane), High Street (the east side, from Line Street to Austerlitz Street), Kinderhook Street (north side, from Central Square to Shore Road), Library Place (east side), Maiden Lane (north-east side) and Woodbridge Avenue (west side, from Hoffman Street to Church Street),”
• The board heard from property owner Greg Reed, who was at the meeting to ask for some reimbursement on repair work he hired a local plumber to do on the sewer line at one of Mr. Reed’s properties. He said the issue with the line was roots-–“your root balls,” he told the board.
Phil Genovese of the village DPW said that Mr. Reed should have called the village about issue. He stressed that if people are having issue with the municipal services, they should “call us first.”
Mr. Reed said he did not know that and there was no instructions on the village website to do that.
“I drive it home to have everybody call us first,” Mr. Genovese said.
“The village was totally unaware,” Trustee Lenore Packet said of Mr. Reed’s sewer issue. She said that before the board could discuss any reimbursement for the bill, which Mr. Reed said was about $1,400, they needed “more clarity” on the matter.
The next board meeting will be Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m. in the Village Hall/Tracy Memorial.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email