Hearing On Gouverneur Assessor In Progress

GOUVERNEUR - St. Lawrence County Director of Real Property Jane B. Powers had little criticism of suspended Assessor Dale L. Raymo's property values during her testimony at an administrative hearing Thursday in the village municipal building.

Mr. Raymo was effective, attended training sessions and was prompt in providing her office with information, she said.

Property owners who think their assessments are too high are nothing out of the ordinary, town councils should stay out of the assessment business, the number of mistakes Mr. Raymo made wasn't unusual, and it is not improper for any assessor to raise the value of a property year after year even if the Board of Assessment Review drops it just as routinely, Mrs. Powers said.

"Every year is a new year. If the assessor feels the market value is there, the right thing to do is to assess it at what the market value is," she said. "I am here because I feel this is a very important hearing, not only for assessors but for public officials."

When town attorney Henry J. Leader asked Mrs. Powers if she had talked with Mr. Raymo on how he interacted with unhappy taxpayers, she took a long pause before answering, "probably fleeting things."

Mr. Leader asked if she had ever said to Mr. Raymo, a retired state correctional officer, "'You can't treat taxpayers like prisoners.'"

"In a joking way," Mrs. Powers answered.

Mr. Raymo's alleged poor treatment of property owners is the primary reason the town suspended him, Supervisor Robert R. Ritchie testified.

"We felt something needed to be done rather than have it mushroom into something where someone was going to be hurt," Mr. Ritchie said. "We felt it was just cause to suspend him. I believe the board acted on what they were hearing from the taxpayers."

Mr. Ritchie said there were other issues that led to Mr. Raymo's suspension, such as his unwillingness to restart regular office hours twice a week after the board had agreed he could go to one day a week during the winter of 2009. Instead, Mr. Raymo wanted property owners to call him to set up times.

"I said, 'I think you still ought to have two mornings,'" Mr. Ritchie said. "I asked him. I didn't enforce it. He said it wasn't necessary."

Mr. Ritchie said he allowed Mr. Raymo to occasionally use his town-provided truck for personal use but had specifically told him after a complaint in 2007 to leave the truck at his house in the town of Rossie rather than take it to his camp in the town of Macomb. Until the testimony of David L. Finnie Wednesday, Mr. Ritchie said he hadn't heard of other times Mr. Raymo had the truck in Macomb.

When Mr. Raymo's attorney, Robert J. Slye, learned from Mr. Ritchie that the town had a written policy that personal use of equipment and vehicles wasn't allowed, he asked Hearing Officer Frederick S. Morrill to strike that part of Mr. Ritchie's testimony because Mr. Leader didn't provide him with the copy he had requested.

"I never got one and now I hear from this witness there is one," Mr. Slye said.

Mr. Leader said Mr. Raymo should have a copy of the town's policies.

"When you ask for a copy of every policy, the answer shouldn't be, 'you ought to know what the policies are,'" Mr. Slye said.

Mr. Morrill said he would take Mr. Slye's concerns into consideration when weighing the evidence.

Testimony couldn't be completed in the three days scheduled for the hearing. It is to resume at 9 a.m. March 31 in the village municipal building, when Mr. Raymo is expected to testify.