WASHINGTON — Grievance Day, when residents may either appear in person or send a letter to challenge property assessments, was May 24 at Town Hall.Grievance Day occurs each year in New York. This year there were 24 submissions, 10 presented in person and 14 dropped off at Town Hall. “Normally what happens is people feel their value is too high,” Mayor Laura Hurley said. “Every once in a while we have people who feel it’s too low, but the burden of proof is on the resident to show that the assessor is wrong. So the state requires that they provide supporting documentation as to why they feel they’re overvalued.”Residents have the option of meeting with the assessor throughout the year to settle disagreements. If an agreement is not possible, residents can make an appointment with the Board of Assessment Review (BAR) on Grievance Day. If they are not pleased with those results, they may take the matter to small claims court, and even up to the Supreme Court, according to Hurley. Residents of the village of Millbrook and the town of Washington are well aware of the Grievance Board, especially after revaluations were done in 2006.“What we did, we brought all of our property values up to 100 percent market value or what the assessor felt they would sell for,” Hurley said. “So that changed everyone’s values, where we hadn’t had an update in over 20 years.” After the revaluation, Hurley said the public became more aware of how property values affect tax bills. “Because, theoretically, everyone’s values go up, your taxes don’t necessarily go up. It’s just the tax rate goes down because there is a fluctuation in the overall assessed value of the town,” she explained. Most residents have made sure their property value information is up-to-date with the village by keeping track of their inventory. They do so by checking that the municipality’s records are accurate, reporting the correct number of bedrooms in a home, or whether there is a pool, a garage or other notables. “It’s very important to look at sales. The 100 percent market value is based on sales, and assessors work with the state of New York to determine what sort of increase or decrease we have seen in sale prices,” Hurley said. “Then you will be surprised at how many residents keep track of sales as well. The economy was stagnant in Duchess County for a long time, and we’re still nowhere near the 2004-05 level. So I think overall the public is very educated.”Of the 24 submissions to the Washington BAR this year, Hurley said a majority were complaints that a property value was too high. Hurley blames this on misconceptions of comparing taxes to home value. “Unfortunately, people equate the amount they pay in taxes with their home value,” she said. “So while it’s true we often hear, ‘My taxes are too high,’ and that may be, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your house is valued too high or your house is valued disproportionately. It just may mean that you’re not happy with the budgets that were passed by the school, the county and the town. ”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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