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SCHENECTADY
Residents blast Council over small tax cut
Raises for city officials, mayor’s Jeep among targets of critics
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

   Resident Harry Brand didn’t hold back.
   He took advantage of Monday’s public hearing to tell the Schenectady City Council exactly what he thought of the proposed 2008 budget and its 1.2 percent tax cut.
   “I don’t think there’s a brain among you,” he said, adding, “You must have struggled with this all year to come out and give the taxpayers a 1.2 percent cut.”
   The council will vote on the budget on Nov. 1 at 5:15 p.m. at City Hall. Members may make changes to the spending plan at that point, Council President Mark Blanchfield said.
   But Brand, known for his often fi - ery criticism of the council’s spending habits, said they’d better make a lot of changes. He said the 1.2 percent cut does nothing to help the city’s beleaguered taxpayers. And the fact that the budget includes hefty raises for the positions of mayor and council members didn’t impress him either.
   “The mayor gets a good $40,000 [more]. You get $4,200. Isn’t that nice,” he said. “People can’t pay for their medications and keeping their property up. You don’t care.”
   He said the mayor could have given up his city-owned Jeep to cut costs. The council members could have given back their 100-percent family health benefits, he suggested.
   Council members who receive raises on Jan. 1 will have to pay 20 percent of their health benefits, as will the mayor. But that’s not enough for Brand, who shouted, “You’re all deadbeats!” as he walked away from the lectern.
   Resident Katherine Delain also appealed for more cuts.
   “I don’t make enough money to make ends meet,” she said. “The council’s going to get a significant raise in pay, the mayor’s going to get a raise in pay. What about those of us who can’t make ends meet?”
   The Rev. Phillip Grigsby also spoke during the hearing, but did not ask for tax relief.
   He said the council should consider adding more money to build a second pavilion at Jerry Burrell Park, which is heavily used during summer programs.
   He also said the council should reconsider its policy for code enforcement.
   “The issue of zero tolerance code enforcement is an issue the city should take a close look at,” he said. “Is that the kind of policy the city wants to put as much energy into as it has?”
‘What about those of us who can’t make ends meet?’
KATHERINE DELAIN
City resident
   The proposed budget cuts one housing inspector because the new staff has been writing so many tickets that secretaries can’t keep up with the paperwork, according to Building Inspector Keith Lamp. Council members did ask him to consider prioritizing code violations and focusing on the most egregious, but Lamp insisted that his enforcers must ticket every violation they see, even house numbers that are half an inch too small.
   The $72.7 million proposed budget includes $4 million in new spending but calls for a tax rate of $20.85 for every $1,000 of assessed property. That’s a 1.2 percent tax cut.
   For the average homeowner with a house assessed at $80,000, the 2008 city tax bill would be $1,668, a savings of about $20 from this year’s tax bill. The average homeowner also paid $728 in county taxes and $2,529 in school taxes this year.
   By way of comparison, just six years ago the city’s tax rate was $14.59 per $1,000 assessed, before a 26 percent tax hike that signaled the beginning of the city’s desperate financial straits. Since then, the city has recovered but the rate ballooned to $21.10 this year while assessments have gone up.
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com