(The following letter was sent to Barbara V. Buonagura in response to a letter from her which appeared in last week's edition.)

In a recent letter Ms. Buonagura wrote to me and forwarded to several local newspapers, you took exception to my statement that town taxes are lower today than they were 12 years ago. You characterized the statement as "disingenuous" and proceeded to list your town taxes for that past 12 years. Well, "disingenuous" is only one word that comes to mind in defining how you selectively interpreted your town taxes and the fact that you did not identify yourself as a former Democrat candidate for public office.

First, and most important, you failed to mention that, in 1995, you put a deck on your house, which increased your assessed valuation. Our records show that you were issued a Certificate of Occupancy for the deck on Aug. 16, 1995. Second, in listing the town tax levies, you included the Sewage Collection District. This is NOT a town tax, but a county tax. Third, you conveniently used the 2000 tax rate for the Building/Zoning/Planning fund rather than the 2001 tax rate, which is lower. Also, while you included the Unincorporated Drainage District tax, you excluded the Unincorporated Parking District tax.

Based on the tax levies you listed for 1989, plus the Public Parking District, your town taxes were $544.044. Adding up the same tax levies for 2001, your town taxes amount to $536.512. That means your town taxes are $7.532 less now than they were in 1989. Had your assessed valuation not changed, your town taxes would be $521.612 or $22.432 less than they were in 1989. While the difference may not seem significant, I don't know of another municipality on Long Island where taxes are lower today than they were in 1989.

The figures below tell the story:

	1989-AV $4550	2001-AV $4680	2001 AV 4550
General	$ 39.585	$ 56.253	$ 54.691
Highway	85.085	131.601	127.946
Lighting	23.705	20.966	20.384
Solid Waste Disposal District	147.465	77.032	74.893
Garbage District 1	139.505	161.928	157.430
Unincorp. Drainage District 1	76.895	76.752	74.620
Building Zoning Planning	13.877	.468	.455
Unincorp. Public Parking	17.927	11.512	11.193
	$544.044	$536.512	$521.612

As Town Supervisor, I am charged with the responsibility of formulating an annual town budget. This budget is then presented to the Town Board for review and, after a public hearing, at which changes may or may not be made, adoption. I am proud that the three budgets I have presented to the Town Board have been lean and cost-effective and kept the tax rate at or below the 1989 level. As I prepare the 2002 budget, I can promise it will be a responsible and responsive spending plan that will maintain all Town services and programs at optimum levels.

One more point. I resent your characterization of the mailing as "campaign literature." The purpose of the mailing was to advise residents of the schedule of community meetings to get public input for the "Vision 2020" plan. Pointing out what good planning has meant to the Town is a way of letting the people know how important it is and why they should take advantage of the opportunity to be a part of the planning process.