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A question about town taxation fairness was raised at Wednesday's Town Board meeting when Ladoga Park resident David Heck asked the Town Board members to consider a tax exemption for residents of Ladoga Park Road.  Heck argued that because private road residents do not receive services like snow plowing and brush pickup they should not have to pay for them. 

"I live on a private road," Heck said.  "I feel that private road owners that do not receive those services should be given credit -- an exemption from the snow plow and brush pickup rate."

Ladoga Park is a lakefront community just east of Myers Park.  The private road forms a loop that enters and exits from lake Shore Road, which leads into Myers Road.  The private loop road provides access to over 20 lake shore homes, and a small number of homes on the inland side of the road.  The private road has been the subject of other issues, including frequent flooding and concern about access for emergency vehicles, and was the focus of a controversy during a brief period when Norfolk Southern Railroad closed off one end of the road in a right of way dispute that was eventually resolved when the railroad reopened the egress point.

Heck said another option would be for the Town to hire a private contractor to provide these services.  He noted that the road owners currently hire a private contractor at their own expense.  He referred to a recent Lansing Star interview with Mayor Donald Hartill, who argues that receive.

But Lansing Highway Superintendent Charlie Purcell says that private road owners are not being denied services.  He says that demanding that a private road be plowed is the same as expecting the Town to plow your private driveway.   At the same time he says he would be willing to provide services on the road, but legal and liability concerns prevent his department from servicing private roads.  Nevertheless, he says Ladoga Park residents can still take advantage of brush pickup.


"If they take it to the end of their private road to my public highway, then I can pick it up," he says.  "I would more than gladly come through there, but the problem is that not everybody has the same idea about Ladoga Park Road that Mr. Heck has.  We've been threatened with lawsuits for going in there.  There are a lot of folks like Mr. Heck who would like to have the service.  But if you have one person in the loop that says 'I don't want you in here' we can't go in.  In my experience that's typically what has happened."

The disagreement between the Village and Town of Lansing over taxation for services rendered has mainly to do with the cost of snow plowing.  The question of how much town tax villagers was raised in 2009 when the Town asked the Village to pay actual snow plowing expenses of about $75,000 in 2009.  In the previous year the Village paid only $30,000 due to an old contract that used an old formula for calculating plowing charges.  Village officials decided they would plow Village roads themselves instead of paying the Town.  Mayor Donald Hartill said in an interview with the Lansing Star last month that he intends to try to negotiate with Lansing Supervisor Ed LaVigne over how much village property taxpayers are levied.

"New York State sets what we are allowed to do in taxing, and how we're allowed to give exemptions, and what distinctions we're allowed to give residents," Town Attorney Guy Krogh says.  "If it falls into a part-town tax the Village doesn't get taxed.  If New York State says this is a whole-town tax, regardless of whether the Village fully utilizes or does not utilize the service, it is a whole town tax that has to be paid by villagers.  You can't build a government within a government and not have some duplication."

Krogh notes that towns are constitutionally prohibited from hiring private contractors to plow private roads.  He says it is the same as expecting a municipality to plow your private driveway.  He says that even if your private road is not plowed you benefit from having the public roads cleared of snow.

"Brush services cover everything that happens," Krogh argues.  "They can drop their brush off at the Town Barn if they want to.  And road plowing expenses are not just for your road -- they're for the safety of everyone in the Town.  They're still benefited by the town roads because they support commerce, they are the delivery route for fuel, fertilizer, the goods, the services that they consume."

Purcell adds that Ladoga Park residents are benefited by town plowing in that they can get where they are going once they have exited the private road.

"It's an argument you could make for almost anything," he says.  "But all the services you pay for with town taxes are still available."

Purcell told the Town Board he would be meeting with Heck the next day to explain the Town's position further.

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