DATE: Tuesday, June 17, 1997                TAG: 9706170346

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   44 lines

FARMERS CALL ON SUFFOLK TO CALL OFF BIANNUAL TAXES BILLS IN JUNE AND DECEMBER HIT HARD WHEN MAIN INCOME WON'T ARRIVE TILL FALL.

About 125 farmers have sent a petition to Mayor Thomas G. Underwood, urging the City Council to repeal an ordinance that will have real estate taxes collected twice yearly.

That schedule, farmers have asserted, hits them hard because they earn the bulk of their income in the fall. In April, City Council voted 4-3 to collect real estate taxes beginning June 5, 1998, with the second half due on Dec. 5, 1998. Suffolk usually collects real estate taxes once a year, in December.

Taxes aren't raised under the plan. Yet interest is earned on the collected monies, prompting some residents to argue that the city is using their money as sort of a line of credit.

A May 28 letter written by Boyd E. Quate and signed by about 125 people, mostly farmers, was sent to Underwood. It reads, in part:

``This type of ordinance is not in the best interest of a large number of citizens in the city of Suffolk and especially bad for the borough that you were elected to represent, Holy Neck.

``The above-mentioned ordinance will have a negative impact in the agricultural community and all services that depend on that part of our economy.''

Farmers contended in public hearings that the measure would create an undue hardship on them because they have to ante up money earlier than expected. Meanwhile, not everyone on the council has been pleased with the proposal.

Council members Curtis R. Milteer, S. Chris Jones and J. Samuel ``Chief'' Carter voted against the measure, concurring with the farmers. Some have argued that it's merely a quick fix to Suffolk's growing demands.

Milteer said he would support plans to repeal the ordinance.

Quate, who farms peanuts and cotton in Holland, said the problem rests with the city's priorities. He says the city has devoted too much of its focus on residential growth, instead of preserving agricultural land and finding ways to offset the costs of growth. ``We think it was strictly a political play.''

Meanwhile, Underwood, who claims he has not received a copy of the letter and petition, says it was the best way to pay for a new elementary school in a city that's grappling with ways to pay for new growth without raising taxes.

Officials say the first collection will yield about $11 million and earn about $600,000 in interest.

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