Hmmmm.....Mr. Godlewski may have a point here. I will then expect an open public meeting while the RPD contract is being negotiated. After all, they are negotiating OUR tax dollar, just like they were with the SI Group.
Perhaps I will contact Mr. Robert Godlewski and ask that he INSIST that all RPD contract negotiations be in an open public meeting.
Also he mentions that it was also not a 'question and answer' meeting. Perhaps I will contact Mr. Robert Godlewski about that one too since they do the same thing at the County Legislature meetings. Perhaps Mr. Robert Godlewski has some pull there and can rectify that issue for us as well as well.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
FOIL for the minutes of the meeting with a good lawyer.......all of our tax records are public whether paid in full or not and in the newspaper or by arranged payments,,,and if a corporation is considered a 'person' in NYS then their tax records whether they be called PILOT or not are also public.......
Let's see if they are interested in keeping their elected positions.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
[quoted by bumblethru]Hmmmm.....Mr. Godlewski may have a point here. I will then expect an open public meeting while the RPD contract is being negotiated. After all, they are negotiating OUR tax dollar, just like they were with the SI Group.
Perhaps I will contact Mr. Robert Godlewski and ask that he INSIST that all RPD contract negotiations be in an open public meeting.
Also he mentions that it was also not a 'question and answer' meeting. Perhaps I will contact Mr. Robert Godlewski about that one too since they do the same thing at the County Legislature meetings. Perhaps Mr. Robert Godlewski has some pull there and can rectify that issue for us as well as well.[/quote]
What the hell does the RPD contract have to do with a Parisi/SantaBarbara backroom deal? Grasping at straws bumble......er Tommy Gun er Mertz, er Surhada......whoever today's mouthpiece is.
I have one question for you...or anyone else. Did you attend the public hearing on this matter?
If you are going to rely on what the media reports to you instead of taking an active part (and I don't agree the Gazette's facts are screwy) than you get what you deserve. If you want to be assured by Mr. Tommasone's remarks that they appointed the IDA and so they let them decide, then fine...but he doesn't necessarily hold that view all the time...ask the Rotterdam Conservation Board or the Planning Commission when they issue reccommendations on certain matters.
Either way, this was a complicated decision with a lot of moving parts. I'm surprised and concerned, if true, that Mr. Silva never saw the proposed agreement. But if you were at the IDA meeting you'd know that a serious negotiation took place behind closed doors during Executive Session. I think Mr. Godlewski's remarks about the public getting to see that agreement is valid.
Let's start with: were you there? I was and so was Mr. Godlewski. I think his concerns about seeing the agreement, no less the revised agreement, is a valid concern that EVERY single resident ought to care about. How else can you possibly know if it was a good deal or not, unless you want to take someone else's word for it. I like to do my own homework.
Forget mixing in RPD negotiations. You're just stirring the pot. It's not about that isn't open so this doesn't have to be open either. It ALL needs to be open! Leave the politics out of it and start focusing on what's at stake in the moment. Need an education on Open Meeting laws or anything related? Check out the links on one of my old websites http://www.rotterdamwindmill.org . All the law you really need to know is there.
I tend to believe this particular deal made sense. But how do I really know without being able to see the deal beforehand??? Is that such a giant request?
The problem I personally have with your post is your verbage. The use of the word "deal." This should have been a well thoughtout "agreement" between the town, county and the school districts. Obviously by all accounts, the county and the school district have or had reservations with the PILOT but Stete T. "praised" the agreement behind the cover of an alledged threat of SI leaving. Poor leadership if you ask me. Maybe the fear might have been that the assessment might have withstood a court challenge and the company loses its certerori. It happened with GE right? Money well spent on attorneys, appraisers, experts etc. The Rotterdam town IDA made a decision for political reasons not in the best interests of the residents and now the town Republicans are twisting in the wind with the taxpayers in the Schalmont School district taking a potential big hit in their 2008 tax bills. This is fast becoming a major issue for the Rotterdam voters!
Agreeing with Michael and putting politics aside, isn't this the actual agreement between the town and the SI Group? Again, this post is directed at the agreement only, not politics.
Re Mar. 1 letter, “Rotterdam IDA deal with SI Group a bad one for taxpayers,” by Woodlawn Democratic Committee President Robert Sanders: Once again, as with his recent letter on Assemblyman George Amedore, Sanders misstates the facts to achieve his goal of criticizing Republican officials. Here are the facts of the PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes] agreement between SI [Schenectady International] Group Inc. and the Rotterdam Industrial Development Agency. SI Group was scheduled to pay about $13.5 million in taxes over the next 15 years. This was based on an inflated assessment due to an extremely low equalization rate which pushed their assessment to about $31 million after a court ordered their assessment at only $18 million in 2002. SI Group stood to receive $1 million to $2 million in refunds if their litigation went to trial, and would have cost the town about $150,000 in legal fees. It was likely that a court would have determined their tax payments to be about $11.5 million over 15 years. The PILOT calls for $10 million over 15 years, plus an extra $450,000 to the Schalmont School District. SI Group also waived rights to refunds from its pending litigation and will also provide a site for a new, badly needed water tower in Rotterdam Junction. As a result, this PILOT essentially has no cost to the taxpayers. The PILOT not only helps preserve 182 jobs and create new ones, it also provides 15 years of stability for all taxing jurisdictions and an excellent corporate citizen, who will remain active in Rotterdam, rather than moving operations to another state, country or continent. ANGELO SANTABARBARA Rotterdam The writer is Rotterdam IDA chairman.
The problem I personally have with your post is your verbage. The use of the word "deal." This should have been a well thoughtout "agreement" between the town, county and the school districts. Obviously by all accounts, the county and the school district have or had reservations with the PILOT but Stete T. "praised" the agreement behind the cover of an alledged threat of SI leaving. Poor leadership if you ask me. Maybe the fear might have been that the assessment might have withstood a court challenge and the company loses its certerori. It happened with GE right? Money well spent on attorneys, appraisers, experts etc. The Rotterdam town IDA made a decision for political reasons not in the best interests of the residents and now the town Republicans are twisting in the wind with the taxpayers in the Schalmont School district taking a potential big hit in their 2008 tax bills. This is fast becoming a major issue for the Rotterdam voters!
Everyone that I have talked to thought this was a good decision. And they were from differet walks of life and different political parties. They really didn't show a concern. Actually, the people that I talked with are more concerned over the teacher's pay affecting their taxes. Clearly most people just brushed this off. Really!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Incredible just incredible bumblethru. You deny being a "political" operative yet you blatently state that "everyone I talked to thought this was a good decision." Then you throw in some misguided statements about the RPD contract negotiations and teacher contracts. You obviously have an agenda and in my opinion it is for personal political gain. I am a taxpayer, living in a newly constucted home in the Schalmont School District. I am disgusted by this backroom "deal" made by Parisi and SantaBarbara. What experience do either one of these guys have with negotiating PILOT agreements?
None!!!! Then what was the motivation behind this "deal?" TIME WILL TELL! The whole Republican Administration and their political leaders are on the hook on this one!
SantaBarbara's mumble/jumble statement is just that. Angelo and his sidekick buddy Parisi wouldn't know the difference between equalizations rates and full market assessments for large industrial plants if there professional careers depended on it. One taps the taxpayers for other law firms to handle assessment challenges and the other is a political neophyite who taps the Schalmont taxpayers to the tune of 6 million dollars in lost revenues.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Incredible just incredible bumblethru. You deny being a "political" operative yet you blatently state that "everyone I talked to thought this was a good decision." Then you throw in some misguided statements about the RPD contract negotiations and teacher contracts. You obviously have an agenda and in my opinion it is for personal political gain. I am a taxpayer, living in a newly constucted home in the Schalmont School District. I am disgusted by this backroom "deal" made by Parisi and SantaBarbara. What experience do either one of these guys have with negotiating PILOT agreements?
None!!!! Then what was the motivation behind this "deal?" TIME WILL TELL! The whole Republican Administration and their political leaders are on the hook on this one!
SantaBarbara's mumble/jumble statement is just that. Angelo and his sidekick buddy Parisi wouldn't know the difference between equalizations rates and full market assessments for large industrial plants if there professional careers depended on it. One taps the taxpayers for other law firms to handle assessment challenges and the other is a political neophyite who taps the Schalmont taxpayers to the tune of 6 million dollars in lost revenues.
Still want to publically praise it Steve T?
The same motivation that has the stockmarket where it is now......THEY ALL EAT AT THE SAME TROUGH.....check your portfolio and 401k.....see the investments by the union retirement packages all endorsed and protected by the state government.....the monkey eating the 'straw' for our bricks is right in our own backyards.......I wonder what the names of the prostitutes are?--GE, SI, Rotterdam, 401k, NYSUT, CSEA etc etc......the rug is being pulled out from under us, local and up........... >
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Look folks...the state government is 'cutting' funding for programs to all municipalities in this state. If these programs are found necessary to continue, guess who will have to pick up the tab? WE WILL! And how? Through our property tax. And it won't mount to a hill of beans whether a dem or rep is in charge of our town/city/village. It's just gonna happen.
Ain't NYS GREAT?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
NISKAYUNA SI Group emphasizes green work BY JASON SUBIK Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Jason Subik at 395-3198 or jsubik@dailygazette.net.
Chemical manufacturer SI Group wants its customers around the world to know that it is going “green,” according to its new “StrategicGreen” initiative launched Thursday. SI Group Brand Marketing Manager Juliana Lam said the StrategicGreen brand has been in the works for several months as a means of communicating the company’s past success at tailoring its chemical products to meet ever increasing, and widely varying, environmental standards around the world as well as manufacturing new chemicals specifically for certain customers. “This is something we see as increasingly important, and that’s why we’re talking about it now. We’re seeing an increasing demand for green products, and it’s an important initiative to SI Group and the industry as a whole,” Lam said. As part of the StrategicGreen initiative, SI Group has assembled case studies of past examples of when the company was able to create new chemical products or modify existing ones to meet a customer’s environmental needs. Lam said one example of SI Group’s green capabilities was shown in 2005, when the company developed a resin called “elaztobond” at its plant in Rotterdam. Elaztobond performed the same job as an earlier SI Group product but eliminated a toxic emission of concern to its customer and had decreased flammability. The StategicGreen initiative was publicized Thursday by Media Logic, the Albany-based marketing and public relations firm that SI Group fi rst contracted with in June to promote a new product, the first outsourcing of its marketing efforts for the 102-yearold firm, which has its headquarters on Balltown Road. According to SI Group, the theme of its StategicGreen initiative is illustrating for old and new customers that SI Group can provide solutions to reduce volatile organic compounds, improve workplace safety, lower energy costs and other benefits. On March 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new eighthour ozone standards, lowering them from 0.08 parts per million to 0.075 parts per million. Because ozone is measured out to three decimal places, the standard had effectively been 0.084 ppm because areas with ozone levels as high as 0.084 ppm were considered as meeting the 0.08 ppm standard because of rounding, according to the EPA. Lam said any of SI Group’s customers in EPA ozone noncompliance areas could benefit from the company’s ability to cut volatile organic compound emissions from its products.
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