Orangetown Discusses Retaining Kenney as Tax Assessor

Orangetown Tax Assessor Brian Kenney's third six-year term will come to an end next month.

The Orangetown Town Board and Kenney addressed his status during Tuesday's workshop meeting at town hall, though Supervisor Andy Stewart indicated that the council may not be ready to vote on re-appointing Kenney for another six-year term at the regular session scheduled for Aug. 13. He added that this is a re-appointment process, not a search for other options. 

"I think what we are looking at is having a conversation and not making the vote next week," Stewart said. "This is not due for another month or so.
"We appreciate what you do. I've certainly come to appreciate it over the last year and a half. One thing we need to figure out is what we are doing with all of the people who work for the town related to members of the CSEA (labor union). The question of your salary is connected to excluded employees."

Kenney, who has been Orangetown's tax assessor for 18 years, does not automatically get raises based on the new CSEA contract with the town. He said that though the state requires the six-year terms, the re-appointment is a formality in many towns. 

"You certainly have a right to open the position," Kenney said. "I don't know if that's necessary. If it's not broken, let's not fix it."

Kenney said he is asking for what his pay increase would have been if it was part of the CSEA agreement. He added that the town board passed a measure in 2008 agreeing to such increases, but he has not received them.

"To me, that's a problem," Kenney said. "It's a legal problem, but we don't want to go down that road. To go 18 years without a salary increase is a long time."


Councilman Denis Troy spoke of the work Kenney has done handling tax assessment challenges over the years.

"Brian has done a tremendous job resolving those tax certs over the years and keeping us out of court," Troy said. "He is as trustworthy as you can come. To me, he's like a rock.

"As far as the contract, we need to look at that. I don't think we need to do interviews (with other candidates). I don't feel you need to do that after 18 years unless there is a reason you need to change. To me, that would be a slap in the face (to Kenney)."

"We're not looking at this as a vacancy," Stewart said. "We're looking at a re-appointment process."

Councilman Paul Valentine spoke in favor of interviewing other people, though insisted it was not a question of Kenney's work.

"I appreciate all you do here," Valentine said. "Everybody speaks highly of you. Your expertise at the job is not in question. I do have a problem with re-appointing someone without doing interviews to at least look at what's out there. It's nothing against you. I think even if we did that, you'd come back as the most qualified. I think we owe it to the voting public to at least do our due diligence."

Valentine said he does not expect to have enough support from the rest of the board to make that happen. Councilmen Tom Morr and Tom Diviny were not present at Tuesday's workshop. 

Pearl River School District Director of Operations Quinton Van Wynen spoke in support of Kenney. 

"I've worked closely with Brian over the last 10 years," Van Wynen said. "In those 10 years, he has done an awful lot of good in his analysis his work, particularly with certiorari. Brian has a tremendous ability to explain things in plain language. I can't overstate the importance of that. 

"I've worked with him on several PILOT (agreements) and certiorari. We are in a better place today because of his efforts. I can't be here next week. I wanted to make sure the district was heard on this."