A Long Island suburb found itself suddenly without a mayor — or nearly any government at all — when almost all the town’s top officials resigned Thursday after raising property taxes 87%.
Atlantic Beach’s longtime Mayor George Pappas abruptly stepped alongside his Deputy Mayor Charles Hammerman barely two months after causing a firestorm with a nearly 90% property tax hike — and just days after a nearly $1 million legal settlement was approved by the village board of trustees.
The massive payout was part of a federal discrimination lawsuit against the municipality by Chabad Lubavitch of the Beaches — a Jewish organization that purchased a former Capital One bank in 2021 to serve as a synagogue and community center they said is being antisemitically stonewalled by the local government.
Atlantic Beach’s longtime Mayor George Pappas quit after jacking up property taxes by 87%. Village of Atlantic Beach
The resignations leave