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SCHENECTADY
Mayor: Expect budget shock Costs going up, grants in jeopardy
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

The 2009 budget will not be pretty, Mayor Brian U. Stratton warned Monday.
The cost of nearly everything is skyrocketing because of the increasing cost of fuel, and millions of dollars in grants supporting critical services may be reduced or eliminated altogether, Stratton said.
    He warned that he will propose a budget that takes into account the fiscal problems that might surface over the next few months.
    “I’m not sure we’re safe getting our scheduled state aid payment the third week of December,” he said, referring to an $11.8 million allocation.
    The city might also lose a $400,000 fire department hazmat grant from the county and a $125,000 community policing grant.
    “The county is talking about a 15 percent tax increase. It’s certainly reasonable to suggest the grants go away or part of it goes away,” Stratton said.
    He will go public with his proposed budget on Monday at 4 p.m. in Room 110 at City Hall. He declined to discuss any possible tax increase until then.
    “I’m not saying that yet,” he said. “But I’m saying you have to see where we are … We are trying to mitigate and minimize the impact of property taxes but we have to budget realistically.”
    His goal now, he said, is “the least possible impact on the taxpayers.”
    The city is entering 2009 in solid financial shape, which will help, he added.
    “We are able to withstand some of the storm,” he said. “Cutbacks — I don’t foresee that. Maybe we’ll have to postpone some things we’ve planned.”
    Paving will likely be reduced.
    “This year I put nearly a million [in additional funding] in paving. I won’t be able to do that,” Stratton said. “Asphalt is a petroleumbased product.”
    But even the price of road salt has gone up because of the price of oil.
    “The salt price is already about 50 percent higher,” Stratton said. “That’s not because salt is a petroleum product — it’s the fuel to transport it.”
    He also doesn’t expect to count on an increase in state aid next year, despite earning a promise of 9 percent increases every year for five years as a reward for meeting fiscal benchmarks. The city may end up with a smaller increase — or no increase whatsoever, Stratton said.
    The prospect of losing large amounts of state and county aid are what delayed the budget presentation this year. Stratton must propose a budget by Oct. 1, but usually he proposes his budget in mid-September.
    “Normally it’s earlier, but things have been so fluid,” he said. Only in recent days, he added, has he gotten a more concrete picture of the city’s prospective finances.
    “If nothing had changed, we’d have a very solid budget,” he said. “It is a tremendous financial challenge.”

What heroes they'll be when it comes in at "only 9.9%"

Where's the words cuts in spending in the budget talks. The city should be all right in 2009 but the poor residents will be broke and living on the street.

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“We are able to withstand some of the storm,” he said. “Cutbacks — I don’t foresee that. Maybe we’ll have to postpone some things we’ve planned.”

Shadow, Mayor Stratton did use the word "Cutbacks". Apparently there won't be any.

What the hell are these elected, supposedly educated people talking about.......do they have a rainbow that only they can walk across and access the pot
of gold.......HELLO......

we are officially now goats following the carrot in front of us....never to receive it.........I could swear here but it wouldn't have the impact......!@#$@@#$%$%$^%^$%&#$%@#$%@#$%!#$!@#$%^%**(^&*(^$%^@#$%!@#$%^&*$%@#$%*%^& > > > >

Soon there will be pitchforks and torches.......

We're gathering pitchforks and torches right now as I feel we will need them soon.

That is what the government is preparing for now by calling in troops by October 1st. Preparing for civil unrest! I'll betcha!

Quoted from senders

Soon there will be pitchforks and torches.......

Hey Brad, Renee, you got our supplies out there yet? LOL  

There's no way to fix the problem that's plagued our county government because the elected officials, with the exception of a few, don't have a clue what's happening or how to fix it other than raise taxes. There's no cure for stupid and it seems we have a lot of that on the county board making decisions for us.

my waders are getting worn through......and my shovel is begining to bend, it just cant hold anymore crap.........the county has much worse problems at
bay, and so do we......anyone remember the game jenga?.....you have to remove blocks without toppling the other blocks but you can 'shrink' the stack
without knocking it over.....we are trying to lower our tower of Babel as we speak.....

Quoted from Kevin March

Hey Brad, Renee, you got our supplies out there yet? LOL  

We have been hitting all the Agway and Tractor Supply stores in the area.  We are all stocked up and good to go!

Quoted from Shadow

There's no way to fix the problem that's plagued our county government because the elected officials, with the exception of a few, don't have a clue what's happening or how to fix it other than raise taxes. There's no cure for stupid and it seems we have a lot of that on the county board making decisions for us.

Shadow has it right. Cuts what cuts? That's for families and those in the private sector only. This County is run by fiscal nit wits. For over a year they have been warned to close City library branches and extra non-mandated DSS programs. So what do they do? Add a County summer camp, hire more lobs and waste $500,000 on main library plans that could never happen. They flatly refuse to cut or layoff anyone.

     The City has increased spending by over 40% since Brian Stratton was elected. He has raised water fees and property taxes to the 10th highest in the Nation. If Stratton can't find some cuts. like a 15% across the board City layoff, he should resign in disgrace.

Your 'friends' are only your friends when you keep buying the beer.........