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POUND RIDGE, N.Y. The Pound Ridge Town Board has unanimously passed amendments to three local laws, including the establishment of a Do Not Knock registry that will prohibit door-to-door peddlers from soliciting those whose names are on it.
The amendment to Chapter 78 of the towns peddlers and solicitors law enables Pound Ridge residents who want to prohibit soliciting on their properties to sign on to a registry on the towns website www.townofpoundridge.com. When peddlers come to the Town House to obtain their sellers license, they will be provided with the Do Not Knock list. The police department will maintain the registrys database.
We have, over the years, had complaints regarding people going door-to-door selling things, Supervisor Gary Warshauer said. We cant restrict not-for-profit groups, but we can restrict for-profits with this no-knock registry.
Police Chief David Ryan said that several Westchester towns have adopted similar laws.
People will be able to go to the town website and get on the list and it will generate a spreadsheet for us, he said. It wont cost the town any money.
If peddlers are caught breaking the Do Not Knock edict, they will lose their sellers permit. Ryan said adding fines to the punitive aspect of the new law would be pointless.
The reality is they wont pay the fine because weve already revoked their [sellers permit], he said. Wed be hard-pressed to collect the money because they would probably just skip town and it would just cause more paperwork.
The second amendment is to Chapter 92 of the towns taxation law and would increase Cold War veterans tax exemptions. Warshauer said the request for the amendment came from town assessors office in the wake of limit increases created by the state legislature.
Qualifying residential real property would be exempt from taxation on 15 percent of the assessed value as long as that amount does not exceed $54,000, up from $12,000 under the current law. Warshauer said that could amount to a $112 savings for a Cold War vet.
In addition, if a Cold War vet receives a compensation rating from the Veterans Affairs Department or the Defense Department because of a service-related disability, qualifying vets would be exempt from taxation to the extent of the propertys assessed value multiplied by 50 percent, though that amount cannot exceed $180,000 up from the $40,000 under the current law. That could result in $373 savings for disabled Cold War vets.
The third amendment repeals the residency requirement for part-time patrolmen. Part-time patrolmen no longer need to be a resident of the town at the time of their appointment.
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