Monroe: You'll Never Guess Where Your Tax Dollars are Going

It looks like there's plenty of money to put into the pocket of Cardone and his cronies, and little to go toward providing services Town residents actually need.

Very short post for today.

I suffer from an occasional bout of migraine induced aphasia. It doesn’t impact my ability to write, but the medication does.

So!

I’ll return tomorrow. (Possibly Friday.)

Until then, here are some things I am looking into related to the Town of Monroe:

1. Did Monroe Town Councilman, Sal Scancarello purchase the Somni Tapas Restaurant and Bar? And if so, when did this happen?

Both Supervisor Tony Cardone and Councilman Scancarello have been heavily involved with Somni’s relocation from off Route 208 to 15 Lake Street.

15 Lake Street is a building owned by the Town within the Village of Monroe.

I first wrote about this story in October for The Photo-News, and it caused the first (of many) Cardone meltdowns.

(This is the one where Cardone said the reporting was inaccurate, but when asked by both myself and The Photo-News editor, Lisa Reider to clarify what was inaccurate, he refused to reply.)

If it’s true that Councilman Scancarello purchased Somni, or was otherwise involved in its business operations, that would probably explain the Supervisor’s first (of many) freak outs about my reporting.

It would also mean that the advocacy Somni received by both Cardone (appearing at Village meetings) and Scancarello are a bit suspect, given that if Scancarello owns the restaurant, he would need to disclose that and recuse himself from voting on anything involving the relocation to 15 Lake Street. Especially because it’s a Town owned building.

I’ve reached out to Councilman Scancarello to clarify whether or not he owns Somni now, and if he does, when that ownership transaction occurred.

2. In Dr. Kate S. Ahmadi’s guest article for The Gazette, she identified a few individuals that I’d like to bring back to your attention: Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Director of New York Government Relations for Agudath Israel of America, The United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn’s Rabbi David Niederman, and Yossi Gestetner, co- founder and head of OJPAC, the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council.

I’ve already explained here why Mr. Yossi Gestetner has no credibility.

But I want to point out something about Rabbi Silber and Rabbi Niederman. I reached out to them both and detailed the antisemitic campaign Monroe Town Councilwoman Dorey Houle is running.

I called. I emailed. I followed-up. I figure, if these guys are so quick to claim there’s antisemitism in Orange County, surely they’d speak up when the candidate for NY’s 42nd District was running a clearly antisemitic campaign against her challenger on the Conservative Party Line, Tim Mitts.

You know what I got in a way of response from the Rabbis?

Bupkis.

I’d like you all to keep that in mind the next time they appear — and they most certainly will — to claim residents of Orange County are doing what they’re doing out of antisemitism.

I guess it’s only “antisemitism” when there’s real estate involved that hanhallah wants.

3. Did you know, in addition to his already geneorous salary as Town Supervisor, Supervisor Tony Cardone took in an additional $13,500 from Monroe Tax payers last year?

It’s true. This is in addition to the money he gets from the town in the form or “reimbursements” for travel to do his WTBQ radio show. Despite, of course, already receiving a travel stipend.

As “Budget Officer”, Supervisor Cardone received $13,500 in 2023.

He then gave himself a generous raise of $5,000 in 2024 for the same role, paying him $18,500.

But here’s something else that’s troubling.

In 2023, Deputy Highway Superintendent William Brown Jr. received $5,300.

After Cardone illegally retaliated against Mr. Brown Jr., it appears that this $5,000 went into Mr. Cardone’s pocket, as it covers the full difference in pay for Cardone’s work as Budget Officer in 2023 and 2024.

And to add insult to injury, Highway Superintendent — and alleged office sex predator — James “Pat” Patterson, received an additional position in the 2024 budget. In 2023, Thomas Rabey was the Water Administrator.

Rabey received $5,300 for the role in 2023.

In 2024, that role was given to James Patterson, who received $21,780.

Same role. Same job as far as I can tell. But an increase in salary of $16,480.

All of this is worth keeping in mind when you hear people like Monroe Town Clerk, Valerie Bitzer, publicly refuse to deputize someone to help with the FOIL requests when she said, “I don’t need to subject the tax payers to having to pay for another person.”

I guess it’s ok to put the money into Supervisor Cardone’s pocket for no good reason, but providing an essential service to Town residents?

Nope. Ain’t happening.

Oh well.

The Town of Monroe has until May 29th to produce documentation concerning the sexual harassment complaint involving James Patterson.

After that, I’ll start really digging into Lake Sapphire and whom Supervisor Tony Cardone plans to sell that water too, after he voted — without recusing himself — to create a drainage district and new dam. Allegedly, home owners around Lake Sapphire are on the hook for this work while the Supervisor is paying nothing.

And before you ask, yes. I reported this to the NYS Comptroller’s office.

Whether or not they actually act on this information is anyone’s guess.

I’ll catch you all tomorrow.