Archive: News

I've been following the County budget debate with some alarm.  The legislature is talking about the levy increase, which at the current rate being considered would be a 6.36% rise.  That would come to an estimated 8.28% tax rate rise.  Wednesday they voted to raise the levy by 5.98%, a tax rate rise of 7.9%, an increase of $75.30 for the average $160,000 home.

I don't really care about the recent history of tax rises or the difficulty of deciding what we can live without -- we elect our legislators to make hard decisions.  Am I the only one who thinks 7.9%, especially in this lousy economy, is obscene?  It's better than 8.28%, sure.  But it's worse than 3%.

As a citizen I have been communicating with my legislator, who, by the way, voted against the rises (rightly so, in my opinion).  This year has been one of really high taxes and unexpected expenses for my family.  I can't imagine that we're the only family facing that.  Despite Washington's contention that the recession is over, it just ain't over for most of us.  So even a cost of living rise seems high for this economic environment, because it is considered normal in normal times.  The more than twice the cost of living rise the Legislature is proposing seems like a slap in the face to County property taxpayers to me.

Interestingly my Legislator has told me that she has heard from more people who want to pay more to keep more services than from people like me who think that if there was ever a good time to curb spending, now is it.  I don't know -- I guess I should ask her -- but I suspect a lot of those people are wanting to pay more to keep youth services.  I actually agree that youth services are among the most valuable services the County and the municipalities offer, and that there are plenty of other things that could be cut here.  But something's got to go.  I don't want it to be me.

New York ranks number one in the number of citizens leaving their state for better economic pastures.  I understand that the pressures come from above -- the Feds cuts putting more pressure on the State, the State cuts putting more pressure on the County... they all rolled over and one fell down.  Yet I am struck by the fact that there are 49 other economic pastures that are apparently more attractive than ours.

As more people struggle to buy groceries, pay mortgages, just do the things they used to do without thinking about it, I don't like any tax rises.  My preference would be tax drops.  When taxes hit the 3% rise mark the alarm in my head starts clanging, and when it inches higher the clanging reaches migraine proportions. 

7.9% is an aneurysm.

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