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POUND RIDGE, N.Y. The Pound Ridge Town Board has proposed amendments to three local laws and will hold public hearings next month to garner public opinion before it considers adopting them.
The first amendment concerns Chapter 78 of the towns peddlers and solicitors law. The amendment would create a Do Not Knock registry. If adopted, the law would enable Pound Ridge residents who want to prohibit soliciting on their properties to sign on to a registry on the towns website. When peddlers come to the Town House to obtain a sellers license, they would be provided with the Do Not Knock list. The police department would maintain the registrys database.
There have been some issues with this lately, Supervisor Gary Warshauer said. While we cant prohibit non-profit groups from soliciting, we do have some flexibility with profit and commercial peddlers.
Police Chief David Ryan said several towns throughout Westchester County have adopted a similar law and he would like to see Pound Ridge follow suit.
I think its a good thing, he said.
If peddlers are caught breaking the Do Not Knock edict, they could lose their sellers permit. Warshauer noted that he needed to look into possible fines as well, which could be included in the proposed amendment when its presented to the public next month.
The second amendment would be 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 to the extent of 15 percent of the assessed value as long as that amount did not exceed $54,000, up from the $12,000 limit 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 received a compensation rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs 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 would repeal the residency requirements for part-time patrol officers in the town of Pound Ridge. Part-time patrol officers would no longer need to be a resident of the town at the time of their appointment.
The town board will hold public hearings for all three amendments at its May 10 meeting.
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