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EDITORIALS Don’t buy Mastro’s resignation

    Schenectady Assessor Patrick Mastro, who seems to keep changing his mind on when or even whether he’s leaving the city’s employ, is apparently resigning in just a few days’ time. That’s his prerogative, of course, and city offi - cials insist it’s consistent with what he told them last fall — when, after announcing he’d be taking an early retirement incentive in October, he abruptly had a change of heart. Or so it seemed.
    Now the issue isn’t whether Mastro is leaving, but the payout Mayor Brian Stratton has cooked up for him — subject to City Council approval. After the flap over Fire Chief Robert Farstad’s overtime deal, which became public in early December, one would think Stratton might be a little hesitant about providing extraordinary payments to department heads — especially the non-contractual kind. But according to legislation that the council is expected to vote on Monday, Mastro may receive a considerable payout for unused sick, personal and vacation time.
    This would be wrong for several reasons. For one, it’s the city’s policy not to pay department heads for most unused sick and personal time; for another, John Paolino, Stratton’s director of administration, said last year that every department head hired by Stratton had agreed to that policy. Mastro is indeed one of Stratton’s hires, and he doesn’t even have a contract. So why would the city feel obligated to give him a golden parachute — especially when the council has expressed a desire to end such arrangements? .......................>>>>.................>>>>.................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00901&AppName=1

Mastro did "a decent job with reassessment"-ROTFLMAO!! Who writes this crap? Thousands of City property owners would disagree with you. Including brilliant Mayoral candidate Roger Hull who was one of the oppressed taxpayers seeking redress. He also got a middle figure from the City.

    Here we go again. Another illegal contract from Mayor SOS? Nothing changes-implosion express by DEM morons. No department head is entitled to a golden parachute. Absolute sickening as is the Gazetto's constant idiot defenses for the worst Mayor in City history.

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Corrections
A story in Tuesday’s Gazette incorrectly quoted Schenectady city Director of Administration John Paolino as saying last year that all department heads hired in the Stratton administration had agreed to no payout of unused sick, personal and vacation time upon leaving city service. City assessor Patrick Mastro was hired with no such understanding.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01806&AppName=1

Unless he has a contract - WHY THE HELL WOULD WE PAY HIM FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN UNUSED VACATION!?!

Unbelievable how so many public sector employees get or expect to be paid for personal and/or sick time.

Even the Gazette can't keep their own backwards logic straight. Who writes this stuff?

Quoted from rachel72

Even the Gazette can't keep their own backwards logic straight. Who writes this stuff?

The one time they print a correction it's for this? No one supports a farewell gift. Mastro should have been FIRED after that reassessment fiasco. He purposely made residents including 90+ year old seniors wait for hours for redress on their artificial high assessments. A sickening abuse of power. And the morons at the Gazetto cheer this on. Maybe if one of them owned residential property in the City.....

     Any City Council stooge that votes YES! to a farewell gift for this assessor is finished in politics. Start belt tightening here. The public has had enough.

Maybe the Gazette is sucking up to the DEMS because they want to be a non-profit.

They want to be in BT's Friends & Family plan. Get the taxes lowered and maybe a schmear? Totally detached from reality. Mastro should have been FIRED when he didn't take early retirement, as he promised. This guy is absolutely hated on the Schenectady street.

     The funniest thing is that he's convinced himself and the Gazetto that he's popular! Well they also think Mercury Morris and Death Ray are doing "a good job". He's repeatedly stated he could be elected to his post. But then he would have to move to the City from Latham? These DEM morons need to enforce the residency laws or repeal them. Another example of lying to the public, being caught red handed and then trying to change the facts.

Not paying out for vacation time is not fair.  They have earned it and it should be given to that person--even if it is Pat Mastro.  I do not believe anyone pays for sick time.  Can't they bank the sicktime for someone who is in need because of some catastrophic health event? Vacation is his fair and square regardless of the state of the City.

Yossi, I would agree with you, but from the ridiculous scams which department heads and City officials have recently done, I bet this man is leaving with probably three times the amount he should. Is he getting a huge pension? A lifetime of free health benefits? Probably. And he's not necessarily 'entitled' for those.

This is what he deserves-NOTHING. He's getting a huge early retirement-thats enough. He said he would take early retirement, despite the public outcry demanded to stay, now he's "retiring". Give us a break. This assessor has done more to kill jobs and produce abandoned houses than anyone. Yells at the public, refuses to produce public information and the unbelievable assessment appeal charade. Every assessment in the City is 30% higher than current market prices. His figures are before the housing bubble burst and still not enough for these horrible DEM tax and spenders to run a City government.

      The good news is because of his militant indifference to the taxpayers Union College President Roger Hull announced for Mayor and a new opposition party has been created. Department heads are not entitled to bank time or going away gifts at the taxpayers expense. Start worrying about the oppressed sheeple taxpayers and not the Friends & Family fund.

Does this guy have a contract with the city or not? Can it be FOILED for?

Paying for vacation time is acceptable, since it is 'earned'. Sick time, on the other hand, is not!

The  next one to watch is van norden's bye bye package, when his time arrives. He supposedly used 6 month of his vacation and sick time right? Keep track folks!

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Correction
Thursday’s editorial regarding a prospective retirement payout to Schenectady Assessor Patrick Mastro asserted that he, along with Mayor Brian Stratton’s other department heads, had been hired under a policy that made them ineligible for unused sick and personal time payments. That assertion was based on erroneous information in Wednesday’s paper attributed to Stratton’s director of administration John Paolino, who said Thursday that Mastro was hired with no such understanding. Regardless of what Mastro was or wasn’t promised verbally — he has no written contract — we still feel it would be inadvisable for the city to give him benefits that it is denying to comparable department heads.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00906&AppName=1

Is this the correction to the wrong correction to the editorial correction of the correction? Can you say yellow journalism neighbors?

Quoted from rachel72

Is this the correction to the wrong correction to the editorial correction of the correction? Can you say yellow journalism neighbors?

yeah,,,,,this is like what? static journalism? what? the Whiteout used is unbelievable.....listening and hearing are different...the skills
to hear and just not sit back and listen are what we do best.....