Town opens Raymo case

GOUVERNEUR — Suspended Assessor Dale L. Raymo's prickly personality and his poor treatment of property owners led to his termination by the Town Council, according to testimony Tuesday at the first day of a hearing into whether he should get his job back.

The town board suspended Mr. Raymo without pay July 7 after people complained about a partial revaluation they claimed unfairly targeted farmers and other rural property owners. The town started paying him again July 22, retroactive to the date of his suspension, but stopped again Sept. 1, when his pension waiver expired.

The town must prove Mr. Raymo was guilty of misconduct or incapable of performing his duties, his attorney, Robert J. Slye said.

The Board of Assessment Review reduced 153 of the 160 grievances filed in 2009, but not all were unanimous, Board of Assessment Review Chairman Albert R. Desormeaux said.

Under questioning from Mr. Slye, Mr. Desormeaux, himself an assessor for the town in the 1960s, acknowledged that past assessors have typically kept the value of rural land low rather than have farmers file for an annual agricultural exemption.

"Mr. Raymo actually did what the law said he should," Mr. Slye said. "He assessed it for what he thought the fair market value of the land was."

Mr. Desormeaux said he disagreed with Mr. Raymo in that he assessed all the land the same, whether it was tillable, rock or wetlands.

Mr. Raymo wasn't perfect in other ways as well, Mr. Desormeaux said.

"He lacked some skills and he knows it, because I told him," Mr. Desormeaux said. "He's capable and he does have some problems with his personality. It's a dirty job."

A parade of nearly 15 aggrieved property owners brought by town attorney Henry J. Leader testified before Hearing Officer Frederick S. Morrill that Mr. Raymo sometimes swore at them, humiliated them, suggested they move, misplaced paperwork, and pressured them not to grieve their assessments. Most of those who testified remained at the hearing in the village municipal building throughout the day.

Antoinette E. Moon said Mr. Raymo told her not to bother showing up at grievance day.

"He said, 'If I see you there with the other yahoos, it's going to piss me off,'" Mrs. Moon said.

However, as Mr. Slye pointed out, Mrs. Moon and her husband, Jason, agreed to an assessment reduction worked out informally with Mr. Raymo.

Mr. Raymo refused to talk with Rosemary Morrow about her assessment, she said.

"He said, 'Your husband disrespected me,'" Mrs. Morrow said. "I was horrified. By the time I got home, I was in tears."

Mr. Slye noted that it was her husband, Charles L., who was late for his appointment with Mr. Raymo.

Wayne C. Gates said his argument with Mr. Raymo became so heated that it frightened his son.

"My 13-year-old, it had him scared that we were actually going to get into an altercation," Mr. Gates said. "It was just very confrontational."

Francis W. Kolbe said he argued with Mr. Raymo that a two-acre plot of rock and wetland with an uninhabitable house couldn't be worth the $59,700 value Mr. Raymo placed on it.

"His exact words were, 'You have to spend the money to fix it up to assessed value or burn it down,'" Mr. Kolbe said.

The hearing will continue from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in the village municipal building and may also be held starting at 9 a.m. Thursday, if necessary.