Open Letter from Mrs. Lo to the Powelton Club

OPEN LETTER FROM MRS. Lo TO THE POWELTON CLUB - Congratulations on your tax assessment reduction of $900,000.00 per year.  The property tax, for your 103-acre country club in the Town of Newburgh will be reduced by more than $224K.  Your country club was assessed at $2.1 Million, but you will now be assessed at $1.3 Million for 2011, 2012, and 2013, which will go up to $1.4 Million in 2014.  Congratulations on having your assessment reduced 38%.

Your school tax liability has been reduced $150,000.00 per year as well, which will extrapolate out to a loss of Millions of Dollars to the Newburgh School District over time.  Congratulations, I’m sure hardworking taxpayers throughout the School District will be happy to make up the difference for your golfers.  Or perhaps this will simply result in the reduction of teachers or programs to make up for the shortfall.  The children of Newburgh and the Newburgh School District lose the most.  For every One Dollar reduction, the School District loses approximately $4.00.  The School District has a primarily minority population.  By losing $150,000.00 in assessment dollars, they lose about $600,000.00 off the tax rolls per year, forever.  How many teachers and programs will have to be cut as a result?

The Powelton Club has a history of institutional racism -- blacks and minorities were banned from joining their country club in writing.  But here is a golden opportunity for Reparations.  A just solution would be for the Powelton Club to donate a portion of their facility to programs that benefit children of the Newburgh School District.  Allow kids from the Newburgh Schools to use the facilities for sports or other events such as the teams' Annual Banquets, for free, one day per week, on a rotating basis.  
Sincerely,
Mrs. Lo