Quoted Text

     
CAPITOL
Cuomo pushes mergers
Homeowners might be denied tax rebates
BY MICHAEL HILL
The Associated Press

    Town court in Glenville is about four miles from village court in Scotia, and combining the two local courts seemed to make sense. But then issues popped up over increased caseloads, conflicting court times and an added financial burden on the town.
    “What we found was there really wasn’t an efficiency as much as there was a shift of costs to one municipality,” said town Supervisor Christopher Koetzle.
    Combining local services has always been politically and logistically tricky. Now Gov. Andrew Cuomo has upped the ante in Albany’s long-running effort to get cities, towns, villages and counties to consolidate or share services such as law enforcement, firefighting and schooling. Under his new plan, if there’s no cost-saving agenda from local officials, their homeowners won’t get tax rebates designed as incentives to promote action.
    The municipal officials who would be on the hook for executing the plans say they support the concept, but foresee challenges.
    “I do agree with the governor that there’s just too much government out there,” said Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli. “But … it’s very, very difficult when you try to do consolidation. I think a lot of people like their town, they like their village.”
    Cuomo’s budget proposal calls for tax rebates this year to eligible homeowners who live in school districts that stay within the 2 percent cap on property tax increases. The rebates would make up for the amount of the property tax increase, creating a tax “freeze.”
    Cuomo’s plan would increase the pressure on schools and municipalities in their second year in the program, when they also would be required to come up with cost-saving plans for consolidating or sharing services. It’s the governor’s way of pushing along the politically difficult task of paring down duplicative local government operations, which he says are a driver of higher property taxes.
    “We have too many local governments in this state and they are suffocating the state in high property taxes,” Cuomo said Wednesday on Long Island.
    The 2012 federal Census of Governments reported there were 3,452 active local governments — including counties, municipalities, school districts and special districts — ranking it ninth in the nation.
    Moriah town Supervisor Tom Scozzafava predicted the rebate checks will be a powerful incentive for local officials, especially if homeowners in neighboring towns are benefiting.
    “If they’re getting a $500-$600 check in the mail and the people of Moriah aren’t getting a check in the mail, how long do you think I’m going to be in office?” he asked with a laugh.
    But like other local officials, Scozzafava hopes the proposal will take into account the efficiencies they have already put in place.
    Scozzafava said his Adirondack town has already taken over police and other services for the village of Port Henry — moves that are common statewide. A survey last year by Cornell University researchers of 946 cities, counties, towns and villages in New York found more than two-thirds shared 911 service and roughly half shared fire, public transit, library or road and highway services.
    Cornell’s Mildred Warner said sharing services is hugely common in New York. Far rarer is two governments consolidating, such as when voters dissolve a village into the surrounding town. For instance, the village of Altmar in central New York formally dissolved last year.
    Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said a big challenge is getting local governments on the same page. His central New York county has 26 towns, 19 villages and 3 cities. “There’s got to be a willingness with the multiple jurisdictions to get to the threshold that kicks in the rebate and that’s going to be very hard to do, almost impossible in certain areas,” said Picente.
    Local officials say the new pressure to cut comes as they continue to face costly mandates ranging from preschool to pensions.
    The Cuomo administration said their plan is solid.     

http://olivedev.dailygazette.n.....amp;EntityId=Ar00102

Quoted Text

“I do agree with the governor that there’s just too much government out there,” said Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli. “But … it’s very, very difficult when you try to do consolidation. I think a lot of people like their town, they like their village.”

consolidation doesn't make LESS government........that makes no sense nor is it logical

Cuomo is a gangster at heart

Take things away from the local people, it is much easier to slip in your patronage appointments and to take control over a large amount of taxpayer money. Local property taxes are something the governor doesn't have his hands on. Notice his continued attacks on the public schools. Does it make sense for a governor to continually bash the schools in his state? He's been trying to starve them of revenue as well, so he can swoop in and rescue us, the property owners, by taking control of everything. All that free government money floating around, out of his hands. He would give anything or try any trick to get his hands on it.

Quoted from Madam X

Take things away from the local people, it is much easier to slip in your patronage appointments and to take control over a large amount of taxpayer money. Local property taxes are something the governor doesn't have his hands on. Notice his continued attacks on the public schools. Does it make sense for a governor to continually bash the schools in his state? He's been trying to starve them of revenue as well, so he can swoop in and rescue us, the property owners, by taking control of everything. All that free government money floating around, out of his hands. He would give anything or try any trick to get his hands on it.

patriot act/homeland security

those who control the $$ control the masses

Cuomo launches property tax relief website

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing for his plan to cut property taxes in New York with the launch
of a “no excuses” tax relief website:

CutPropertyTaxesNY.GOV
http://cutpropertytaxes.ny.gov/

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

All praise the almighty dem dictator

We're doomed

Cuomo keeps announcing how he is going to fix New York forgetting that we know who messed it up in the first place.

I DON'T WANT RELIEF.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WANT THE TRUTH IN BALANCED BUDGETS AND THE GOVERNMENT MONSTER THAT EATS EVERYONE'S HARD WORK ON A
DAMN LEASH!

gambling/casinos are a whitewash.....

Quoted from senders

I DON'T WANT RELIEF.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WANT THE TRUTH IN BALANCED BUDGETS AND THE GOVERNMENT MONSTER THAT EATS EVERYONE'S HARD WORK ON A
DAMN LEASH!

gambling/casinos are a whitewash.....

Quoted Text

Pootwattle says:
The teleology of linguistic transparency performs the divisibility of the nation-state.

Smedley responds:
Pootwattle's hastily published paper on the relationship between the teleology of linguistic
transparency and the divisibility of the nation-state betrays its origins as an insufficiently
revised dissertation.

the governor saying tax 'relief' is like saying you want morphine for pain relief......

true relief comes from fixing/eradicating/curing the disease....other wise it's just a fu(king bandaide.

Quoted from senders

the governor saying tax 'relief' is like saying you want morphine for pain relief......

The project of narrative sequence is homologous with the emergence of the tension
between nature and history.

Consolidation saves money?

  

Watch what happens with the consolidation of Time Warner and Comcast when bills go up big time.

Cuomo pushing property-tax reform plan
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Michael Hill/The Associated Press  

Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a rally in support of charter schools on the steps of the state Capitol in Albany on March 4.

CAPITOL — Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared with local officials Monday to promote his property-tax reform plan as “the major issue” in state budget negotiations as lawmakers began public discussions on the fiscal plan.

The actions kicked off an intense two-week stretch as Cuomo and legislators try to agree on a budget deal by the April 1 deadline.

Amid high-profile disagreements at the Capitol over how to fund pre-kindergarten expansion and whether to protect charter schools, Cuomo held a news conference to keep the focus on his budget proposal to give property-tax rebates to homeowners in jurisdictions that meet strict spending limits through consolidating or sharing services.

Cuomo sees the plan as a way to force local officials to reduce bureaucracies that drive up property taxes.

“If you want to make a fundamental difference, reform the property taxes, because that’s where the money is,” Cuomo said.

State lawmakers agree on the need for property tax relief in this election year. But Democrats in charge of the Assembly have rejected Cuomo’s plan in favor of a proposed “circuit breaker” for people whose housing costs take up a large share of their salary.

“We shouldn’t make some people’s benefits contingent on some local elected official,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told reporters as the Legislature began a series of two-house committee meetings on the budget.

A number of local officials from around the state have criticized the governor’s plan as too onerous and complicated. Many say they have already worked to share local services.

Cuomo implicitly rebuked the local criticism by flanking himself with local officials at his news conference, including three county executives: Edward Mangano of Nassau, Mike Hein of Ulster and Daniel McCoy of Albany. Cuomo said that as of Monday, he had the support of more than 150 local elected officials.

“It’s not easy,” Hein said of the governor’s proposal. “It’s contentious. But it’s never been more important.”