To the Editor:

Is this the way the town of Newtown treats its citizenry? By jacking up their taxes to stratospheric levels because they made a mistake years ago? How can you justify over $7,000 dollars in taxes for property that's just a quarter of an acre and sits 40 feet from one of the state's busiest highways, Route 84, without a sound barrier that the town has done absolutely nothing about!

If my calculations are correct, an average two-acre parcel should have a taxation of nearly $56,000! It may happen if the town keeps up on this course! So how does my house, built in 1945 as a summer cottage, and recently renovated to make it a comfortable four season residence and a better piece of attractive property to eventually attract future property owners, deserve this incredible tax rate? It's because the town fathers have decided to put a pay per view tax on my residence because it is lakeside in Riverside, in Sandy Hook, the “ghetto” of Newtown! Two houses down from me is a house in total disrepair that hasn't been inhabited in years and is about to collapse on itself. Do you think the town has done anything to remedy this situation? Wouldn't you think this would have a negative effect on my tax base? Evidently not!

I call on all of the citizenry of Newtown and revolt against this obnoxious deployment of town power and rescind this recent tax hike! We also need to vote out these members who allowed this dubious situation to exist!

Sincerely,

Gary and Peggy Fillion

84 Underhill Road, Sandy Hook                  July 10, 2013