The latest offering from our former Town Board member and current County Legislator makes for some very interesting reading indeed !
He states that he and his Republican colleagues were faced with a Catch 22 situation when they attempted a zero tax increase. Jeez - No kidding !! He stated significant services and jobs would be eliminated to achieve the lofty goal - again - NO KIDDING !! Same problem East Greenbush faces - how do we continue to operate with no workers , no staff , not even some of the basic services ?!
Funny - Mike didn't vote for the 0% tax increase when it was proposed to him.
He reports that the Republican majority consulted both parties - WOW , I'll bet that tasted like vomit in your mouth since you never offered the Dems in EGB that opportunity last year when you formulated the 2010 budget for EGB. No one wants higher taxes but we have to do the best we can - Damn , how come you and Taylor arn't so forgiving at the Town level - you just spin things out of control because it suits your political agenda - you should practice what you preach . No one seems content with the current economic climate in the Nation or State , but for you to get up on your soapbox and blame the current Town Administration for a 2.7% tax increase as being irresponsible when you admittedly can't control the County Budget any better is simply self serving and delusional dreaming , political spin at its very best !
In one posting , you've provided your opposition with ammunition for the next few months. While I can appreciate your apparent smack at honesty - your asking for taxpayers to give you and your compatriots at the County level some understanding as YOU deal with the economic climate of the nation and state , yet you poke fun directly at the current Town administration for having to deal with EXACTLY the same scenario and problems. Nice try - can't blame you , but we're not buying any today!
I attended the County Budget Hearing last night and not one person spoke during it. Maybe that was because it was reportedly the fifth such hearing. Hard to believe, but I kept quiet, not feeling sufficiently conversant with the topic to offer my two cents … they're looking to take much more than that, anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe Record published an article on the meeting that followed the Budget Hearing http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/12/02/news/doc4cf74318df280838467265.txt.
Quoting same "... the six Democrats proposed their own amendment, which would take some $750,000 from the county’s $8 million general fund and other money from the county chamber renovation fund, bringing the total tax levy increase down to zero. … That amendment was voted down by all 13 Republicans."
It appears that a zero tax increase was there for the asking, according to the Dems proposal, with no loss of services or jobs. Whether a $7.25 million fund balance would have gotten the County through 2011 is anyone's guess.
The Dems are challenged the vote on the Budget. Again, quoting The Record, "According to the County Charter, a tentative budget or suggested changes to that budget that will result in a tax increase must be approved by a two-thirds vote. The final vote on the budget came to 12-7 in favor of the Republicans, one shy of the necessary 13." Will Democrats to turn to the Courts to have this decided?
Pete Stenson
Ann Taylors uncanny ability to overstate the obvious is undeniable !
ReplyDeleteHer latest blob about taxpayers not being able to afford a tax increase followed up by her statement that if tax increases are made they are easier to understand if there's cuts made somewhere in the budget . Jeez - No fooling!
She follows that with the classic understament - "when everything in the budget is reviewed , everyone benefits" ! DUH!!
Good God - I'm breathless with that analogy !! -( sarcasm intended) Giggle~giggle
Its apparent her hatred for the Town Board is only out weighed by her clear posturing for her next run at Town Office.
If Cristo wasn't so arrogant, I would almost feel sorry for him, he is so pathetic. He has painted himself in a corner so many times, he HAS to contradict himself to get out. It's the only answer. As for the giggling twit, how must she feel, trying to justify all his ranting and then their tax increase?
ReplyDeleteAccording to them, county tax increase is justified, but the towns is thievery. There are all kinds of excuses and reasons why we had to have the increase in the county, but the town increase is toally unwarranted. Apparently the town doesn't have expenses. It is pitiful. Even their own minions have to be reading between the lines. How about it Bonnie, Don, Hal, Sean, Moe, Ray, Dwight? Lets hear you defend all their nonsense now.
Why don't we talk about what Tony Maney and Larry Davis had riding on the approval of FEDEX without modification? That's the reason the McCabe team was in such lockstep early on. Big Dem power had big bucks tied up up on the Hill. It all had to do with a FEDEX easement for a sewer connection. Just check the next Board agenda. But at least they'll have to sniff diesel.
ReplyDeleteMY GOD IS HE REALLY THAT POMPOUS AND ARROGANT.
ReplyDeleteBelow is courtesy of King Christo snd the vomit blog....
"2 million people are about to lose their unemployment benefits (nationally). Rather than encouraging those people to save while they have jobs, or trim their own budgets for a rainy day and encourage them to consider entrepreneurial endeavors, regardless of how small, we will actually consider extending the unemployment benefits. It needs to stop somewhere. "
In watching the news last night they talked about the 2 million people losing unemployment benefits. Those people are basically living paycheck to paycheck. SO LIAR LEGISLATOR HOW ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO SAVE IT?????? ARE YOU REALLY AS IGNORANT AS YOU TYPE! Apparently!
And your gf is ok with a tax increase now? She getting a little extra from you? If she is such a great financial mind why isn't she running the three different banks she worked for! You really are a pompous j&*&%&ss!
It seems to me that you all are more worried about what giggle and pompous as you call them. are doing instead of coming up with your own material for your so called blog..
ReplyDeleteNow that is original.
I also want to mention that she has to write giggle giggle to fawn fake laughter. My goodness the upwards of 20 or so times I have seen the woman in pulic there is never a smile. Only smile was that forced one that was on the two billboards in town! She is fake and phony and I am glad the people in town are finally getting to see her and HUUUUUGGE Ego boy foe what they are!
ReplyDelete1048pm - NO one here is worried about what ole giggle boom-boom and her little boy wonder are plotting . Our own material doesn't need to involve taking cheap shots at the Supervisor and Town Board, we voted them in and we obviously don't need to make mountains out of mole hills like the loser candidates do , day in and day out!
ReplyDeleteThe Sky clearly isn't falling like they pipe to their loyal radicals everyday. They lead their sheep down the path every day and the extremists that follow them buy their kool-aid all too easily. Blog over there if you don't like what you read here.
Update on the County Budget. According to The Record,
ReplyDelete"Minority Leader Peter Ryan said Democrats met after Wednesday night’s meeting and have put in calls to attorneys and faxed over copies of the charter in order to dictate their next move. The language of the charter is vague about what happens next, Ryan said, and whether or not the amended budget should now be replaced by the current fiscal year’s budget, or by County Executive Kathy Jimino’s original proposal.
Ryan said Democrats would work to “see what the best option is for the taxpayers.”
“We obviously don’t want to go back to a 4.9,” he added."
"Democratic legislators seek legal counsel about county’s charter to determine what to do about the 2011 budget" http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/12/03/news/doc4cf8921d13703073515600.txt?viewmode=fullstory
Pete Stenson
Mr. Stenson, these are not tax cuts being discussed; I assume you know that as you seem very well informed. So maybe you are just spinning at the moment? These are not tax cuts. What is being discussed in Washington DC are tax increases. People are being taxed on money at a certain level and now they are contemplating increasing that tax rate.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that you have no idea what it takes to run a small business. As a small business owner, I can tell you that I see no way how I am going to hire any new employees in the near future if this tax increase does take place. Pols like McCabe, Jimino, Paterson and Obama are dooming this nation. Soon we will be a second-rate Euro-like nation with the majority of the populace looking to the Nanny-State to provide answers to all woes.
A poor person never gave me a job. And wealthy people will not give others jobs now, if you continue to tax the heck out of them. At some point the people receiving unemployment need to take jobs that may consider beneath them. In my youth I worked as many as four jobs at one time. It can be done. I wonder how many of these people receiving unemployment are willing to even consider such a thing.
The only way out of this mess we are in is to create a more business friendly environment. And I saw that you previously complimented the current Town Board as being productive. Productive, yes. But destructive yes (raising taxes and increasing payroll - added postions). Nice omission! and yes, the county is just as bad. Shame on them all!
Lincoln concludes his Gettysburg Address with the phrase "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Granted, Unemployment Insurance, Social Security and Public Assistance did not exist in Lincoln's day. I believe that assisting those who are less fortunate falls under "for the people" although I've no historian by any means.
ReplyDeleteThe tax cuts implemented by President Bush are scheduled to expire. Thus, absent Congressional and Presidential action to the contrary, taxes throughout the land will increase. President Obama and the Democratic Congressional delegation want to retain the cuts for those earning less than $250,000 and let the tax cuts for those earning in excess of that level expire. Keynes believed that governments must increase spending when the private sector cannot.
I recognize that it is a very effective negotiating strategy to link extending the tax cuts to extending unemployment benefits. But is it a morally appropriate linkage?
I am also well aware that small businesses are the job creation engine that drives our economy and applaud you if you truly are a small business owner. I hope that your business flourishes and that you will soon be able to hire more staff. But until that time comes for you and many small businesses, I do not want to turn my back on the less fortunate … it is not my style.
Remember, those receiving unemployment benefits put those benefits back into the economy virtually immediately, buying such frivolous commodities as food and clothing. Paying for shelter.
True, the better-off and the well-off are buying the same, and most probably more so. The more fortunate are also likely be saving and investing … also critical to economic growth.
Remember also that when one's unemployment benefits expire, they will be eligible for more public assistance which is supported by tax dollars.
Sort of a Hobson's Choice, I'd say.
Pete Stenson
and.....once again AT shows her temper and how pathetic she truly is : read this -
ReplyDeleteAnn Taylor said... 29 Tax increases in conjunction with STAFF increases shows ZERO compassion for ANYONE--the unemployed OR employed. Those who are unemployed cannot afford the increases which are used to fund the new staff additions which are the parents, spouses and friends of the Board Members. Those who are employed cannot afford the same increases for the same reasons in addition more of their paycheck is being gobbled up by increases in their health ins participation at the workplace and/or pay cuts in the private sector.
Prices are rising for groceries, oil, health care, EVERYTHING. Increasing our town taxes while increasing staffing to hire family members (nepotism) is simply wrong and selfish. It is an elitist move that ALL residents in East Greenbush are being forced to endure
Once again - she shows how totally ignorant she really is and again - THANK GOD she was never elected to Town Government because she will NEVER understand how to run a municipality , much less does really care. She always conveinently forgets little price Michaels tax increase at the county level when she slings her muddy venom .
The family members are former employees who are more than qualified to serve in the capacity chosen, and lets be honest - friends of board members ....you really want to go down that road Ann?? Tom Grant, Stacy Crain, Mary Breig , Jim Breig, Craig Crist , and last but certaintly not least - CHRIS DEFRUSCIO??? Puhleez there little miss giggle~giggle - boom-boom! Think before you write and try not to let your now infamous temper get the worst of you ! Your ignorance is starting to show !
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