Sept. 21, 2011 Letter in The Journal News

Re "Ramapo blasted in draft audit," Sunday article:

The New York state comptroller did a great job revealing the irresponsible spending and reckless lack of financial controls that characterize the town of Ramapo. Furthermore, the auditors' very conservative observation that St. Lawrence's stadium is probably not going to pay for itself was well taken.

According to the comptroller's report, "Town taxpayers have liability or potential liability for as much as $35.4 million in costs associated with a property the Town no longer owns. But where did this figure come from? Footnote 2 explains: "(T)he cost shown above represents unaudited amounts as of June 8, 2011…"

Unfortunately the comptroller did not follow the money. From early June 2010 through late July 2011, Ramapo passed resolutions that Preserve Ramapo estimates have created $85 million in debt. Where did this money go?

We believe that most of the money authorized for parks, roads and other town improvements in this period was actually spent on the construction of St. Lawrence's stadium. The comptroller did not undertake the difficult task of verifying where this money went.

Preserve Ramapo estimates that Ramapo spent about $70 million on this stadium and will lose about $4 million a year. As the comptroller noted, Ramapo has exhausted its $4 million reserve fund. Given Ramapo's huge debt burden and what will be an endless supply of red ink supplied by St. Lawrence's stadium, our taxpayers can only look forward to a tax increase next year that is well into double digits.

Robert I. Rhodes
Suffern

The writer, chairman of Preserve Ramapo, is a candidate for Ramapo town supervisor on the Preserve Ramapo line.