Raymo accused of inflating numbers

GOUVERNEUR — Retaliatory jacked-up assessments and misuse of a town truck were among the allegations that came up in testimony Wednesday in the second day of the administrative hearing for suspended Assessor Dale L. Raymo.

David L. Finnie said he was fishing on Pleasant Lake in the town of Macomb in the fall of 2008 when he saw Mr. Raymo at his camp.

"It appeared to be the town truck," Mr. Finnie said. "It looked like Dale was taking cinder blocks out of the bed of the truck."

Mr. Finnie's testimony nearly didn't make it into the record, however, as Mr. Raymo's attorney, Robert J. Slye, objected that the incident was missing from the initial charges brought against Mr. Raymo by the town.

"It needs to be stricken," Mr. Slye said. "It's unfair."

An administrative hearing doesn't have the same requirements as a lawsuit, town attorney Henry J. Leader said. In any case, he said he found out about Mr. Finnie's testimony only two days earlier.

"You can say there aren't any rules," Mr. Slye said. "That doesn't make it the wild, wild West."

Hearing Officer Frederick S. Morrill at first sided with Mr. Slye but changed his mind after Mr. Leader protested he had received no information on Mr. Raymo's witnesses.

"You're just trying to hide from the truth," Mr. Leader told Mr. Slye. "There's other allegations he misused the truck."

Mr. Slye shot back.

"It's improper for a lawyer to buttress testimony by saying it's all true," Mr. Slye said. "His burden is to provide me with information."

Bryan K. Perrigo and members of his family testified they believed Mr. Raymo raised their assessments maliciously because of past arguments even though the Board of Assessment Review lowered them whenever they filed a grievance.

"If I'm not a target, I don't know what is. I'm talking thousands and thousands of dollars," Mr. Perrigo said. "We're not talking one parcel. We're talking eight or nine. What's the sense of grieving it if every year it goes back up? That's when I went to ag exemptions."

But Mr. Slye said the case against Mr. Raymo is nothing more than people's feelings, what they heard from others, and the political pressure put on the Town Council to get rid of Mr. Raymo.

"Everyone who testifies is going to say they were treated unfairly," he said. "It's a lot of hearsay evidence from unnamed witnesses. That's what this whole case is. Here we are, trial by innuendo."

Much of Wednesday's testimony was establishing from computer technician Thomas Manley that personal information, family photographs, and material from some of Mr. Raymo's other jobs were on the two Gouverneur town computers he used. However, Mr. Manley, who worked for both the town and for Mr. Raymo personally, said that he might have transferred some of the data onto the town's computers.

Other town employees have occasionally had personal information on town computers or played games on them, he said.

The hearing continues at 9 a.m. today in the village municipal building.