To the editor:

I just returned from the office of Catherine Mazzaro, the Town of Pelham receiver of taxes. I went there to pay my Feb. 1 school property tax, an amount due of $12,616.19. I had a check in hand for that amount. I was aware that I was 11 days late with this payment, and I was prepared to have to pay a penalty of some sort. I was told that the penalty was $1261.62, and I had to pay that amount. Period! It made no difference that I was only 11 days late; it made no difference that this property has been in my family for over 70 years and no payment of tax had ever been late; it made no difference that I am 78 years old. It had to be paid, and no discussion was allowed.

I am lucky that I can afford to pay this outrageous penalty—and I will. But I suspect that there are many in our community for whom this may not be true. But this will make no difference to Mazzaro. Is this really what we want in a “public servant?” It isn’t hard to see who is the servant here. Keep this in mind for future elections. We can do better.

Steven Bratone

147 Nyac Ave.