To the Editor:

On Nov. 8 the 2,303 voters (37%) in the Village of Potsdam will vote on dissolving the Village of Potsdam which, if passed, would result in nearly tripling the property taxes on the 3,959 voters (63%) in the Town of Outside of the Village (TOV) who are NOT allowed by state law to vote on this issue.

The TOV will not be happy when their taxes are nearly tripled without their vote and the Town Council will not be able to do more than the minimum needed for the villagers.

As has been stated elsewhere, this is “taxation without representation” for the 3,959 voters in the TOV.

Imposing this major financial burden on 3,959 voters who do not have a vote on raising their taxes is wrong! And this would come at a time when the HEAP allowance for heat has been cut back; many families will be suffering real hardship with additional taxes to pay at the same time.

Because of the immoral state law which denies the TOV the right to vote on the raising of their own taxes, I call on the voters of the Village of Potsdam in the interest of human decency to vote against dissolution and to not consider another referendum on this question before the state law has been revised to allow the TOV to vote as well as the Village.

Residents of TOV should talk to all of their relatives, friends and acquaintances in the Village and urge them to vote no.

My views are influenced by my 37 years in government as a city planner. Half of those years were in the New Jersey Dept. of Community Affairs in Trenton, where I also spent four years “moonlighting” at rehabbing Victorian row-houses and fighting city hall.

I have lived in the Village of Potsdam since 1993.

William E. Davidson