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Law Office of John J. Tormey III, Esq.
John J. Tormey III, PLLC
1636 Third Avenue, PMB 188
New York, NY  10128  USA
(212) 410-4142 (phone)
(212) 410-2380 (fax)
jtormey@optonline.net
https://www.tormey.org
 
Sunday, July 21, 2024
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-473-8940, (1-212-681-4468), U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
contactus@osc.ny.gov
sgaaudits@osc.ny.gov
Thomas P. DiNapoli
Office of the New York State Comptroller - Albany Office
110 State Street
Albany, NY 12236 USA        
 
VIA U.S. MAIL and E-MAIL:
press@osc.ny.gov
Thomas P. DiNapoli
Office of the New York State Comptroller - New York City Office
59 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038 USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-408-3931, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
InspectorGeneral@osc.ny.gov
Office of the New York State Comptroller – Inspector General
59 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038 USA
 
VIA FAX: 1-518-408-3931, U.S. MAIL, and E-MAIL:
investigations@osc.ny.gov
Office of the New York State Comptroller – Investigations Division
59 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038 USA
 
Re: Request For An Investigation Of The Village Of Piermont, NY Government
 
Dear Comptroller DiNapoli, and Colleagues:
 
Attached/enclosed with this letter as Exhibit A is a copy of the May 31, 2017 “Statement Of Net Position” of the Village of Piermont, New York.
 
Attached/enclosed with this letter as Exhibit B is a copy of the May 31, 2023 “Statement Of Net Position” of the Village of Piermont, New York.
 
My understanding is that 2017’s Exhibit A was made available on the Village of Piermont, New York Internet website. However, my further understanding is that the Village of Piermont may have ceased making this type of financial reporting available on its website circa 2020, and that therefore Exhibit B needed to be extracted from Piermont government through FOIL recently.
 
It is unfathomable that the government of a small village of approximately 2,500 residents with a formerly positive Net Position of “US$834,138” in 2017, could have possibly now run that same village into the ground within the space of 6 short years to a Net Position of “(US$7,622,669)” – that is, to a negative Net Position of over 7.6 million dollars in the hole.
 
While clearly, accounting conventions may have changed in that six-year period as regards pension liabilities for example, the pension vector between 2017 and 2023 as reflected in the Exhibits still appears to be staggering. Moreover, it appears that Piermont Village government deliberately changed the format of its “Statement of Net Position” macro template from 2017 to 2023, as also reflected in the Exhibits, perhaps in an attempt to shield Piermont Village Hall defalcation. As for the timing, my understanding is that the first mayoral term of current Village of Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker commenced at the beginning of 2018. His mayoral reign lines up almost perfectly with these two alarming documents.
 
I am a political Independent and represent no client in this matter, although in recent months I have undertaken to fight irresponsible real estate development and environmental practices by the Village of Piermont government. Those harmful real estate development and environmental practices may well be related to the Village’s underlying financial distress reflected in the two Exhibits hereto. Though I know that it should have no effect on any governmental investigation of potential Piermont village government financial malfeasance, and as I am asking for the bipartisan help of your respective offices, you should please be aware that Piermont Mayor Bruce Tucker is a Democrat, and that the recently-departed head of the Village of Piermont Planning Board is one Daniel Spitzer, brother of disgraced former New York State Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
 
Mindful that you will likely receive similar requests to investigate what is apparently newly-discovered information regarding the Village of Piermont’s 2023 negative “Net Position”, I respectfully request that you and your colleagues probe how a small-town village government in New York could have possibly blown-through that much by way of financial resources over a 6-year period, thereby putting its unsuspecting village residents so deeply in the hole.
 
Thank you for your careful consideration of this letter and its Exhibits.
 
Respectfully submitted,

John J. Tormey III, Esq.