Kings Park, New York 11754

Councilwoman Patricia Biancaniello

99 West Main Street

Smithtown, New York 11787 February 6, 2009

Re: A Market Value Increase of $18 Million for Smithtown’s tax Base

Madam:

When someone is right, they’re right. In the February 5^th Smithtown News, David Ambro writes that Supervisor Patrick Vecchio ‘s former 18-year Chief Building Inspector Robert Bonerba resigned suddenly only to be later indicted -- on 42 counts for taking bribes and related crimes. The new Chief “discovered 3,000 files in the Building Department related to building improvement projects that had been completed but the paperwork had never been finalized so the new assessment could be added to the tax rolls.” Some files “were left open for 10 years.” Where has Supervisor Vecchio been these past 10 years? Should a conservator be appointed for our octogenarian Supervisor? Or, someone to supervise the Supervisor? The town drunk or that idiot from Boxwood Drive could do a better job. Here are rubs Mr. Ambro missed.

“352 files represent a market value increase in the tax base of $18 million. Start with the clerical staff in the Building Department. Inebriated, blind or amnesiacs or just plain dullards – did they not notice that “closed” did not dovetail “opened,” as in “building permits?” No one dared drop a dime on Bonerba? Smithtown Tax Assessor Gregory Hild “said that all of the cases relate to residential projects, and that many of the jobs were small and did not affect the assessment of the property.” I smell a rat. And when I do, I know that Vecchio is somewhere in the wood pile. “Small” and “residential” on 352 files, many of which “did not affect the assessment,” results in an $18 million “market value increase”? Considering all the years that Smithtown had a slime ball for a Chief Building Inspector, is its citizenry to believe that no commercial building permits remained and still remain open even though the r enovations have been finished? Do I smell Dimitrios Tsunis and Nicholas Barbato, et al? Maybe you ought to start asking questions. If you do, be careful crossing the street. You would be twice the fool if you did not know by now that Vecchio and Councilmen Thomas McCarthy and Edward Wehrheim would not take kindly to you poking around the Building Department. It’s where the fixes and the bribes have flowed for decades. Why don’t you introduce a resolution requiring a “Notice of Appearance” for those appearing before the Building and Planning Departments who are representing someone other than themselves? People perform better when they know they are being watched.

Did Vecchio call Frank DeRubies at the behest of John Zollo. Esq. and order him to cut a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for Nick Cosmo’s Agape? Suggest that Zollo return Ponzi money.

Yours truly,

Lawrence N. Gray, Esq.

CC: Legislators Lynne Nowick & John Kennedy