In what is clearly a first, the Common Council voted 7-2 (Turco-Levin and Polacco in the negative) to bond for a variety of things including $100,000.00 for tax certiorari proceedings.
Alderman Turco-Levin summed it up well by saying it was the equivalent of putting a mortgage payment on a credit card. Alderman Polacco was also correct when he described the bond as "excessive".
It seems clear to me that we need more prudent fiscal policies in our budget and bonding. Obviously, essential costs were deducted from the budget and bonded to hide the extent of the spending and tax increase.
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39 comments:
Come on Rich. The Council is just getting ready for when Nic Woerner is Mayor. This is old news in the Town of Ulster. He not only borrowed to pay the settlement in 2009 but also borrowed all the legal costs involved!
Woerner for mayor??? God help us !!!
And Ron Polacco's suggested cuts from the bonding list were ....?
(CRICKETS CHIRP)
And Ron Polacco's alternative for bonding certiorari was ....?
(CRICKETS CHIRP)
And Andi Turco-Levin's alternative for funding certiorari expenses, since they clearly weren't included in the 2011 operating budget she voted to approve, is ....?
(CRICKETS CHIRP)
It's the same old same old, folks: Empty posturing by GOP Council members hellbent on scoring easy political points but not so hellbent on doing any work that might actually further their professed goals and objectives.
It's a tired, transparent game plan and one that Sinagra & Co need to rethink.
number of things like police equipment..... Not good
Yet, your minority leader voted for the budget so which is it? You can't have it both ways.
How else do you expect these so called leaders to repair the issues facing our city?
IF they arent ready to battle the unions, and demand more from our paid employees, and attract some companies here, there is no way the local economy is going to sustain current spending.
We are pouring money into housing and benefits for people who dont pay taxes, all the while taxing the few businesses that are left right out of thier homes, but no one else can see these?
Come on Rich, fight for the working man, and get screaming about these issues or you and I will have a sign in our yard real soon as well
KFD, and Ahsdown, if you are reading this, now that your time is coming and the free ride needs to be over for the next few years, or soon you and your teams will be the only people left here with jobs!!!
I just witnessed the blazer, pump # 1 and the hook and ladder #1 all arrive at the apartments on Lucas and Millers lane, with at least 5- fireman, and there in no fire, I assume its a medical call.
Any chance you could find out what the call is and tell us why the need for a hook and ladder, when they are 4 blocks away and there doesnt seem to be an immediate need?
Can any of the firemen that read this blog advise if there is a more efficient way to respond to a call where the largest unit in the fleet doesnt need to be driven out in a snow storm when its not needed ot utilized?
9:46,
I must take umbrage with your comments. I submitted a detailed list of budget cuts totaling approximately one million ($1,000,000.00) dollars.
Alderman Turco-Levin submitted some cuts as well. They were not as numerous as mine, but she did make submission to reduce the budget.
As for Alderman Polacco, he may very well have supported my cuts or Alderman Turco-Levin's cuts.
1pm,
I agree that Alderman Turco-Levin should not have voted for the budget.
I also think that she properly voted against the bond.
I consider my positions to be consistent.
"As for Alderman Polacco, he may very well have supported my cuts or Alderman Turco-Levin's cuts."
Ah, but right there's the rub: "may very well have." He won't actually say (ever), so you don't actually know. Tax payers don't know. His constituents don't know. With Rich Cahill, at least you know. And your dissent is usually coupled with a thought-out alternative. Even if I disagree, I understand where you're coming from and respect your point of view.
Polacco's disengagement, silly game playing and ducking of all hard choices and responsibility -- not so much.
8:19,
Thank you for the compliments.
As for Alderman Polacco's position on the budget, you could ask him. His contact number is on the city website.
Mr. Cahill,
Just like the post from annon 7Jan11 2019hrs. Although I do not always agree with your opinion. Atleast I know where you are going or coming from. And it is good to agree to disagree at times and respect your thoughtful and well researched opinion on the subject at hand.
But I still think that this bond should have been presented to the council BEFORE the budget vote. To me the information/items in the bond are/were known before the budget was before the council. And was just a way of keeping the tax levy increase lower to the City of Kingston residents.
I still can not see the council not see this bond coming before the budget vote. If the council did not see it, then there is a HUGE communication gap between the Mayor and the Common Council and department heads not bringing things up that are in the bond. It just goes on and on. And I do not blame Mayor Sottile for that.
Before I forget, I do not agree that the City of Kingston should be bonding for Tax Certiorari proceedings.
9:46. Perhaps the democratic administration, that was in place back when the foolhardy property assessments were in process, had listened to the concerns of people experienced in real estate and had seen the huge dark cloud on the horizon they might have stopped or delayed that assessment debacle until the dust settled in the real estate market and the true picture of the economy emerged. In my opinion that is why we are having a lot of grievances filed and why the city is on the hook for their loss in court against property owners. So don't blame the republicans that sit on the council for anything that originated during the strangle hold the democratics had on the city real estate market/politics. End result...businesses left and homeowners desperate to get out from under taxes put homes up for sale or walked away from their financial obligations.(tax and mortgage foreclosures) Realistically, there is precious few things in the budget you can cut in order to keep the city running& keep everybody happy and few remedies in this decline in the economy. Perhaps Polacco realized that we cannot keep digging ourselves into a bigger hole and we have to start someplace in filling it backup again. Same with Turco-Levine. As to suggestions, I do not see where the democratic aldermen stepped up with a plan unless you count the attack on the unions; which as we know contracts cannot be broken as they were negotiated by a democratic mayor who had NO foresight. His lack of experience in financial predictions was nil. But hey, in the real estate end he brought us low income housing which contributes "NADA" to the bottom line. In fact it drains away any gains we might have made or could make in the future.Don't even get me started on the 2million grant that literally went up in smoke last month (school building)Why was this only geared to low income or no income? Who do you think pays for these programs? It is the dwindling middle class who never gets a break in childcare or anything concerning family issues.
We need a strong city manager to run our city and get it cleaned up. Take politics out of the picture. I want someone who can see the big picture without being heavily influenced by special interest groups and family and friends. After we get our city finances and spending under control,go back to a qualified Mayor to run the city.
It would mean that democrats,republicans, working family party, independents and etc. would have to put their differences aside to get that job done. One can always hope.....
It is imperative that elected officials have original ideas and solutions. If they simply agree or disagree with the ideas of others than we may assume they are incapable of original thought,incapable of valid critique,incapable of problem solving and therefore incapable of fulfilling leadership obligations.Each should step aside for those they simply agree or disagree with.It is far better to have an empty council chair than an empty head.
The city of Kingston voters made a choice to restructure/ and reform the old innept form of goverment, it was on the ballot and passed by a large majority of the voters. It was the city manager form of goverment. Then the old guard politico went nuts and had it murdered in the womb before it was even born. When Mayor Gallo was newly elected he made a full court press, from conrtact promisses to Police, Fire,CSEA and others to have it killed. I was at a League of Womens Voters where the Mayor attempted to intimadate the pannel into changing there positon for a City manager, and their oppositon to Gallo's ballot initiative to repeal the City manager, and have a 4year Mayor. I voted for the City Manager as Alderman, and when we had to form a Commission for charter revision, I as a commisioner, I voted to move the City manager onto the ballot.It is a form of goverment that works to the advantage of the citizens, and not political asperations.
So boys and girls, you now reap what you have sown.
Robert M Porter
If the current Mayor and Common Council sign contracts beyong 2011 (the current expiration), it won't matter who is Mayor or Common Council.
Mr. Porter,
Take a look at Newburgh. They have a City Manager form of government. They are dropping right into the Hudson River. Other communities with City Managers are failing as well.
Also, shortly after Gallo was elected and did the things you note, you left the Republican Party and joined Gallo and the Democrats. I guess you were not so angry with them after all.
The new Mayor should be smart, charismatic , able to motivate, (not alienate)have a firm grasp on financial issues either by education or long term experience. He also must be personable and able to move among his citizens with ease and affability. He would need to surround himself with well qualified people to help and advise how to run a local government. Not appoint people as a way of payback of their support of his campaign or appoint inept friends with no experience whatsoever in their job descriptions. Let's stop" dumming down" the mayor's position. Voters need to educate themselves about the issues and who is the most capable individual to lead the city out of this crisis.
It would be most beneficial if the future mayor actually worked in the private sector and not in the public realm for most of his career.
If a person of that calibar stepped forth I would be one to actively work for his/her election.Looking at the roster of mayor wanabees, the list is short for the above named qualifications.
Dear Mr Cahill. Anger does not motivate my thinking, it my cause a change in my direction.The argument about Newburgh was used in the 1990's as well as Troy.
If you remeber, the opposition to the city manager goverment was bi-partisan from the elected officials. The people of Kingston voted twice on this issue, their voice was heard. Changing a HAT wont stop spending habits, that has to come from a place self discipline.
Robert M Porter
9:33,
Should I decide to run for Mayor, you would be most welcome on my campaign team.
Mr. Porter please get your facts right. CSEA received nothing from Mayor Gallo and did not support either plan. The Police and Fire made the deals that are bankupting our City. No lay off clauses, 17 extra days off, unlimited sick leave, just to name a few perks. CSEA has nothing to hide in its contract with the City.
The shame of the over assessments is that City property owners are paying a dsiproportinate share of County and School district taxes since other jurisdictions don't use the make believe 100% equalization rate like Kingston gets stuck with due to the make believe on-going reassessment program. The rich and or politically connected get their properties reduced and the rank and file pay more.
Are you kidding me a BANDSTAND!
csea recieved raises every year when gallo was mayor and also before he was mayor he went to bat for csea members when they were facing lay offs and a reduction in thiers pay checks hoe soon we forget
5:43 I said "promisses", I did not say contractual agreements. I have my facts right.To try and disscredit some one who has, and still does supprot the CSEA, only shows that you do not have a grip on what happened in the past. And further more, I defended the DPW on the council floor angist the unfouned accusations that some Alderman grandstanded on.Why would Porter do that? I come from a blue collar upbringing,My Dad was a Teamster shop Stewart and to this day,My wife, and baby girl are UNION. I still brown bag my lunch.And what does that mean? To many times the little guy is the target of the larger sharks that have no respect for what the blue collar work force does.So in ther words of my genertation,' UP YOURS'. Let me set the reccord straight.As a commisioner to the charter revison, I made a motion that on the November ballot, the 4 year Mayor would be placed on the ballot as well as the city manager. It had a second by Gordon Web. Only three votes were cast in favor of the amendment, my self, Gordon Web, and Kate Fiore. At that point we voted to move the City manager to the ballot. Rich, thank you for publishing my comments. There are some realy good people who want to step up to the the plate of public service, but are turned off by the toxic enviorment of polotics.They are Republicans,they are Democrates,Conservatives, and yes( hold your nose) Liberals.
I have no ambition for political office, but I do enjoy a good civil argument/debate.
Robert (bob)Porter
Bob Porter is correct in his interpretation on the facts of the Gallo and sottile administration. I am a CSEA member from DPW. Gallo was a politician in every sense of the word and was, quite frankly, not a friend of the unions per say. yeah, sure we negotiated contracts that included raises, but never any items in our contract even closely resembled what the Fire and Police had in their contracts,respectively. Gallo practiced attrition EVERY YEAR during his tenureship thereby cutting and gouging manpower from DPW by not replacing workers after employees retired. Now we are feeling the ill effects of his practice after his partner Jim Sottile pushed for 14 employees to be layed off last year. The Gallo-Sottile administration and now the Sottile-Noble admin. has almost destroyed the DPW and now we have a willing participant in ex alderman, and now DPW boss, Mike Schupp adding to the incompetence. Why do you think Sottile hired Schupp from as far a way as Highland (which is exploiting the city charter)? Because Schupp is willing to perpetrate cuts BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and then come from behind after plotting and lie to his workforce, as though he is FOR them. Most of us are not falling for his B.S. Remember, little Schuppy is a politician from way back! Gallo hated Schuppy boy and vice versa, but Sottile and the little guy have been friends for years.
Here is the issue facing the city regarding the CSEA and FD unions
Pay increases based on longevity..
After time, 3% becomes 25% and when based on a $30-50,000 salary, the compensation paid to employees is too high for some positions.
e.g.
A truck driver making $30,000 a year this year, will be making over $50,000 in 20 years, and is still doing the same job, even if he is not good at it. Where does the $20,000k come from? The tax payers.
Before you all start screaming about how the driver is entitled to this increase because he worked for 20 years, please note that this is a public sector, tax payer funded job, and therefore the worker has no liability, and has a less demanding job than the private sector, and hasnt risked anything to demand this type of increase, no matter how long they work.
We should be able to locate drivers for much less than $50k per year.
I know that turnaround would become an issue, however, whats worse, going into debt by over paying employees, or having to turn over staff?
This should be the risk for public sector workers, and once the boss (the city) cannot afford them any longer, its time to freeze salaries, or move on.
The CSEA members have a secure position with benefits, raises, more time off than any private sector job, no risk, no liability, and for the most part some of the easiest jobs there are, and still they demand more each year, even if they are just sitting around most of the time.
We need a mayor who has some business knowledge and isnt afraid to take on the workers in the CSEA, FD and KPD to ger realistic about what is feesible these days.
Sorry guys, I know most of the union people do thier jobs, and they are appreciated, however if you desire to get ahead and want a salary to reflect these desires its time to get off the govt tit.
The govt shouldnt be the best paying jobs in a community, or you will end up with the issues we are facing now.
Too many friends making too much money off city hall.
It doesnt matter what Gallo or Sottle did, it matters what the next guy is going to do...
If we dont elect a business man with no ties to the CSEA or FD, the city will tank in the next few years.
It's ashame that after DPW had done a pretty good job with this storm. That some drivers continue to push back on wet streets and place it on RESIDENTS sidewalks after they had been cleared for the final time. This happened approximately 3:30 PM this afternoon. This has to stop.,
OK Mr. Porter. What promises were made? Do you really have yor facts right or are you just "grandstanding".
I really want to know what promises were made and if they were filled.
Should we be concerned? The lame duck Mayor looking for a private sector job may be tempted to use taxpayer dollars to curry employment opportunities. Putting Canopy maintenance on all taxpayers including competitors of Canopy covered businesses. Bandstand, what's next? Raises and job security via new contracts for campaign worker Firemen? 30M in bonds is enough? Kicking the severance payments to the future?
10:40, I dont know exactly what the firemen make, but drivers salaries at DPW are 41,000.00 per year, not 50,ooo.oo!! That is misinformation you are posting and should be corrected. Please do not lump DPW employees in with the firemen, our salaries are considerably less than the average firemen. An average laborer makes aprox. 36,000.00 base salary with very little overtime. They no longer come in to help with the plowing. CSEA employees are the lowest paid employees on the payroll. THAT IS A FACT, not misinformation that you are stating. You arte free to look it up, we are all public employees .
6:42 it was an example and I used round figures to make the math simple.
It doesnt matter what the salaries are, what matters is the formula.
If every year you get another 3% for just showing up, it increases your salaries and overall costs for the taxpayers until you die and are off the govt retirement system.
There is the problem, longevity based raises for less work is a bad business model
I am 100% certain that not one private sector company could survive with this business plan, yet the city, CSEA and all its members dont see this?
As much as the public appreciates the jobs you do, we still cannot justify some of the salaries and yearly increases just because you are still on the job.
If you want to get rich or even further your station in life, you should not be dependent on the CSEA or city of Kingston. We are still talking about blue collar jobs for a municipality, not doctors, scientist, or engineers
Hey 10:40 I worked for the private sector and got raises almost every year. Xmas bonuses, time off, profit sharing was great in hte private sector a few years ago.
Lets look at Wall Street, there are no union jobs there but million dollar bonuses are the norm.
Stop blasting the public employees just because they had the sense to get it in writing.
3:41 As long as a company isnt asking me for more tax money thier employees, I dont care what they all get!
As long as you need me to pay your salary and benefits, expect some backlash.
My point remains, there needs to be some sort of pay structure in place for govt employees, that the govt can afford.
Just because you claim to be entitled to more each year because you have it in writing, doesnt mean its the right way to do business.
9:20am. What are you blind. When private sector companies hand out huge bonuses and raises it cost all of us, just like raising taxes. If banks and credit card companies dont have enough money they raise interest rates and decrease interest rates on our savings. Why aren't you going after the oil companies for raising gas prices and raking in record profits. These are the true villans not the poor laborer who picks up your trash in the freezing cold and blazing heat.
How does that not effect you?
Stop bashing the little and start holding your elected officials accountable. Sottile, Noble, Reynolds, Senor, and Landi all voted for these contracts. Why blame the union? All they did was negotiate in good faith.
Its easy to pick on the little guy isn't it.
Hey 9:20, listen up...I DONT CARE WHAT YOU THINK OF ME OR MY SALARY, I AM A CSEA MEMBER AND A TAXPAYER TOO, EINSTEIN! We will negotiate our contract once again this year and because we earned the right to do so by way of the Taylor Law it doesnt really matter what you think dude or dudess. You will not be at the bargaining table and if we dont like the terms and conditions that are being presented to us, we will NOT AGREE TO SIGN! End of story. If you dont like it, go join a union. Working for the private sector leaves you wide open,UNLIKE US. Meanwhile, please pass the grey pupon...
9:20 The taxes you pay don't even cover the senior plant operators overtime. So stop your crying and get out and vote the idiots out of office. They are the real culprits not the average CSEA worker.
Its evident after years of telling yourselves how hard you have it, that now believe the BS the CSEA promotes.
I do blame the politicians for all the issues the city faces, but the largest issues we need to address right now is salaries and benefits for those feeding off the govt (as well as social services, I knew you two would go there so I went first).
Back to the basis:
I was a CSEA member for years and watched the abuse by its members because there is no incentive to do a better job or earn more, you already are expecting it because you made it through antoher year.
I am sure that you have had to work in a gang where one or more of the people with you are useless and make more than you, because they have been there longer. Doesnt this bother you?
I am sure that you have had to stretch a 4 hour job into a 2 day affair so you can get your meal ticket and OT, doesnt this bother you?
I am sure that you have seen more than one person sleeping on the job, or waiting for someone else to do it becuases "its not in my title"...doesnt this bother you?
Of course I understand about the big comapnies of the world causing us grief with thier failures, but again, my city of Kingston taxes are not paying them, I am paying YOU, so again expect some criticism when times are bad.
I do appreciate the people that pick my trash, patrol my streets, and assist when we are in need, I simply feel that it should be a salary based position within reasons, each employee should have to contibute to his or her benefits, and there should be accountability, not a free ride.
Dont you feel useless some days when you get home and realize that you were paid for a days work, and only did an hour or two worth of work?
How long could you perform you daily duties in the private sector and remain employed?
Just because you have a tit job, doesnt mean you have to act like a boob!!!
Have some job pride and tell your union that you are more concerned with the well being of your city that you pay taxes in, and get rid of some of the dead weight, and start earning your money on a daily basis.
You will feel better about yourself, and the city and its people with all stand behind you at the next contract!
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